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OF  CALIFORNIA 


OORONADO'S    MARCH 


SEAHCH  OP 


THE  SEVEN  CITIES  OE  CIBOLA, 


/^ 


DISCUSSION  OF  THEIR  PROBABLE  LOCATION. 


WASHINGTON: 

:GOVERNMENT     PRINT  INQ     OFFICE. 
1871. 


.v  : 


CORONADO'S  MARCH  IN  SEARCH  OF  THE  "SEVEN  CITIES  OF  CIBOLA"  AND 
DISCUSSION  OF  THEIR  PROBABLE  LOCATION. 


By  Brevet  Brigadier  General  J.  H;  SIMPSON,  Colonel  of  Engineers,  U.  S.  A. 


The  early  Spanish  explorations  in  Mexico  in  search  of  the  "  seven  cities 
of  Cibola  n  have  always  been  of  great  interest  to  students  of  American 
listory.  Eecent  publications  have  drawn  my  attention  anew  to  the 
vast  geographical  field  embraced  in  the  toilsome  march  of  Yasquez  de 
Joronado  and  his  adventurous  followers,  and,  having  in  years  past  been 
engaged  officially  in  the  United  States  service  in  exploring  that  remote 
region,  I  have  been  tempted  to  reinvestigate  the  grand  enterprise  of  the 
Mexican  government  in  1540,  and  venture  to  offer  the  following  essay  as 
an  expression  of  my  well-considered  views,  derived,  in  early  life,  from 
observation  of  the  field  itself,  and  confirmed  by  careful  study  of  all  the 
authorities  within  my  reach.  Besides  this,  friends,  in  whose  opinion  I 
;rust,  believe  that  my  reconnoissances  of  a  large  part  of  the  country 
xaversed  by  Ooronado  and  his  followers  give  me  some  advantages  in 
;he  discussion  of  this  subject  over  other  investigators,  who  have  not  been 
favored  by  personal  inspection  and  scientific  location  of  the  important 
points  embraced  in  the  adventurers'  march,  so  that  I  now  submit  my 
conclusions  with  less  diffidence  than  I  should  have  done  had  I  not  re 
ceived  in  advance  their  cordial  encouragement. 

I  must  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  to  the  library  of  the  Peabody 
[nstitute  of  this  city,  to  the  library  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Mary- 
and,  and  to  the  private  library  of  the  president  of  this  last-mentioned 
society,  Colonel  Brantz  Mayer,  all  of  which  have  been  thrown  open  to 
me  in  my  researches.  I  must  also  express  my  particular  obligations  to 
Colonel  Mayer  for  the  very  valuable  aid  he  has  afforded  me  in  the  pre 
paration  of  this  article,  by  the  use  of  his  excellent  translation  (yet  in 
manuscript)  of  Ternaux  Compans'  version  of  the  "  Eelation  du  Voyage 
de  Cibola,"  entrepris  en  1540,  par  Pedro  de  Castaiieda  de  Nagera,"  pub 
lished  in  Paris  in  1838. 

The  arrangement  of  the  following  essay  is,  first,  a  brief  narrative  of 
]he  march  of  Coronado  from  the  city  of  Mexico  to  the  "  seven  cities  of 
Dibola"  and  the  province  of  Quivira,  together  with  an  account  of  the  ex 
peditions  of  his  subordinate  officers,  naval  and  military  $  and  second, 
the  discussion  of  the  subject  of  the  location  of  the  important  places 
visited  in  the  several  expeditions ;  and,  in  order  to  a  clear  understanding 
of  the  text,  I  accompany  it  with  a  map,  for  which,  under  my  direction 
as  to  details  of  route,  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  N.  H.  Hutton,  civil  engineer, 
whose  knowledge  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona,  derived  from  his  associa 
tion  with  Generals  Whipple  and  Parke,  as  assistant  engineer,  in  their 
explorations  in  New  Mexico  and  Arizona  in  1853-'56,  has  been  of  mate 
rial  service  to  me. 

In  the  year  1530,  Nuno  de  Guzman,,  president  of  New  Spain,  was  in 
formed  by  his  slave,  an  Indian,  from  the  province  of  Tejos,  situated 
somewhere  north  from  Mexico,  that  in  his  travels  he  had  seen  cities  so 
large  that  they  might  compare  with  the  city  of  Mexico  ;  that  these 


2  CORONADO'S   MARCH. 

cities  were  seven  in  number,  and  had  streets  which  were  exclusively  oc 
cupied  by  workers  in  gold  and  silver;  that  to  reach  them  a  journey 
of  forty  days  through  a  desert  was  required;  and  that  travelers  pene 
trated  the  interior  of  that  region  by  directing  their  steps  northwardly 
between  the  two  seas. 

Nuno  de  Guzman,  confidently  relying  on  this  information,  organized 
an  army  of  four  hundred  Spaniards  and  twenty  thousand  Indian  allies 
of  New  Spain,*  and  set  out  in  search  of  these  seven  wonderful  cities ; 
but,  after  reaching  the  province  of  Culiacan,  he  encountered  such  great 
difficulties  on  account  of  the  mountains  he  had  to  cross  that  he  aban 
doned  the  enterprise,  and  contented  himself  with  colonizing  the  prov 
ince  of  Culiacan. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  Tejos  Indian  who  had  been  his  guide  dying,  the 
seven  cities  remained  only  known  by  name,  till  about  eight  years  after 
ward,  when  there  arrived  in  Mexico  three  Spaniards  named  Alvar 
Xunez  Cabe9a  de  Vaca,  Andres  Dorautes,  and  Alouso  del  Castillo 
Maldonado,  accompanied  by  an  Arabian  negro  named  Estevanico,  (Ste- 
phen.)t  These  persons  had  been  wrecked  with  the  fleet  which  Pam- 

*  Castaneda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans'  Collections,  Paris,  1838,  p.  '->.  Hukluyt, 
quoting  from  a  letter  written  by  the  Viceroy  Antonio  de  Mendoca  to  the  Emperor 
Charles  V,  says :  "Nufio  de  Guzman  departed  out  of  the  city  of  Mexico  with  400 
horsemen  and  14,000  Indians."  (Hakluyt's  Voyages,  vol.  iii,  p.  436, new  ed.  London, 
1810.) 

t  This  is  according  to  Castaneda's  account ;  but  according  to  that  of  Camera  de  Vaca. 
Ternaux  Compans'  Collections,  these  persons  arrived  in  New  Spain  in  15o(;,  or  six  in 
stead  of  eight  years  after  Nuiio  do  Guzman's  expedition.  Their  adventures  were  so 
remarkable  I  cannot  refrain  from  saying  something  about  them  : 

Pamphilo  de  Narvaez  sailed  from  the  West  Indies  early  in  1528,  with  four  hundred 
men,  eighty  horses,  and  four  ships,  for  the  purpose  of  exploring  the  country  of  Florida. 
of  which  he  had  been  made  governor.  He  seems  to  have  reached  the  harbor  ol'  Sama 
Cruz  (supposed  to  bo  Tampa  Bay)  in  April  of  that  year,  and  on  tin-  1st  May  debarked 
with  three  hundred  men,  forty  of  whom  were  mounted,  for  the  purpose  ode  exploring 
the  interior  of  the  country.  His  course  was  northwardly,  and  gcnerall.N  parallel  to 
the  coast.  On  the  2Cth  June  he  reached  an  Indian  town  called  Ai>nlnf!n\  where  he 
tarried  twenty-five  days.  He  then  journeyed  in  nine  days  to  a  place  called  Ante. 
Continuing  his  course  thence  westwardly  for  several  days,  his  men  became  so  dispirited 
from  finding  no  gold,  and  on  account  of  the  rough  treatment  of  the  natives,  that  they 
returned  to  Ante,  where,  hearing  nothing  of  their  ships,  which  had  been  ordered  to 
coast  along  with  them  and  axvait  their  arrival  at  some. good  harbor,  they  constructed 
live  small  boats,  in  which  two  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  party  (all  who  had  not  died  or 
killed  by  the  natives)  embarked,  steering  along  the  coast  westwardly  for  Panuco, 
on  the  coast  of  Mexico.  At  length  they  readied  the  month  of  a  river,  t  lie  current  of 
which  was  so  strong  as  to  prevent  their  making  headway  against  it,  and  whose  fresh 
water  was  carried  out  some  distance  into  the  gulf.  About  seven  days  after,  while  making 
their  way  with  great  difficulty  westwardly,  the  boat  commanded  by  Caheea  de  Vaca 
\\as  east' on  an  island,  called  by  them  Malhado,  (Misfortune.)  A  day  or  two  after  this 
'Cabeca  de  Vaca's  boat  and  all  the  others  were  capsi/ed  in  a  storm  oil'  the  inland  of 
Malhado,  except  that  of  the  governor  of  Narvae/,  which  seems  to  have  drifted  out 
to  sea,  and,  with  its  crew,  was  never  afterward  heard  of.  Those  of  the  party  that 
"were  not  drowned  remained  on  the.  island  of  Malhado  and  main  land  adjacent  for  six. 
years,  and  endured  from  tin;  Indians,  who  had  enslaved  them,  the  greatest  indignities. 
From  this  cause,  and  from  starvation  and  cold,  the  greater  portion  of  them  died.  At 
length  four  of  them,  (those  mentioned  in  the  text  above,)  all  that  probably  survived, 
escaped  from  their  bondage,  taking  in  their  flight  a  northern  course,  toward  the 
mountains,  probably,  of  Northern  Alabama.  Thence  their  course  was  west  \\ardly 
a  <  TOSS  i  lie  Mississippi  (which  was  doubtless  "  the  great  river  coming  from  the  North," 
spoken  of  by  Cabeca)  and  Arkansas  rivers,  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Canadian,  which 
they  seem  to  have  crossed  just  above  the  great  canon  of  that  river,  (where  Coronado 
crossed  it  in  his  outward  route  to  Quivira.  of  which  more  in  the  sequel;)  thence 
southwest  wardly  through  what  is  now  New  Mexico  and  Ari/ona  to  Culiacan.  in  Old 
Mexico,  near  the  Pacific  Coast,  which  they  reached  in  the  spring  of  l.">:>li.  (See  narra 
tive  of  Alvar  Xune/  Caheca  de  Vaca.  translated  by  Buckingham  Smith,  Washington, 
1  •-.",!  ;  and.  in  confirmation  of  the  above  specified  crossing  of  the  Canadian  Kiver, 
••The  Relations  of  Castaneda,  by  Ternaux  Compans,"  p.  140.) 

Mr.  Albert  Gallatiu,  in  his  essay,  vol.  •„'.  pp.  ."if,,  f,7.  TrttnMCtfam  of  American  Kthno- 


CORONADO'S   MARCH.  3 

pliilo  de  Karvaez  had  conducted  to  Florida,  and  after  crossing  the 
country  from  one  sea  to  the  other  had  reached  Mexico. 

The  tales  they  told  were  quite  marvelous.  They  stated  to  the  then 
viceroy,  Don  Antonio  de  Mendo§a,  that  they  had  carefully  observed  the 
country  through  which  they  had  passed,  and  had  been  told  of  great  and 
powerful  cities,  containing  houses  of  four  or  five  stories,  &c.  The  vice 
roy  communicating  these  declarations  to  the  new  governor,  Francisco 
Vasquez  de  Coronado,  the  latter  set  out  with  haste  to  the  province  of 
Culiacan,  taking  with  him  three  Franciscan  friars,  one  of  whom,  by 
name  Marcos  de  Niga,  in  the  language  of  the  chronicler  Castaueda,  was 
theologian  and  priest.  As  soon  as  he  reached  Culiacan  he  dispatched* 
the  three  Franciscans,  with  the  negro  Stephen  before  mentioned,  on  a 
journey  of  discovery,  with  orders  to  return  and  report  to  him  all  they 
could  ascertain  by  personal  observation  of  the  seven,  celebrated  cities. 
The  monks,  not  being  well  pleased  with  the  negro  on  account  of  his 
excessive  avarice,  sent  him  in  advance  to  pacify  the  Indians  through 
whose  country  he  had  previously  passed,  and  to  prepare  the  way  for  the 
successful  prosecution  of  their  journey.  Stephen,  as  soon  as  he  reached 
the  country  of  the  "  seven  cities  of  Cibola,"  demanded,  as  Castaiieda 
says,  not  only  their  wealth  but  their  women. 

The  inhabitants  not  relishing  this  killed  him  and  sent  back  all  the 
others  that  had  accompanied  him,  except  the  youths,  whom  they  retained. 
The  former,  flying  to  their  homes,  encountered  the  monks  before  men 
tioned,  in  the  desert  sixty  leagues  from  Cibola.*  When  the  holy  fathers 
heard  the  sorrowful  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Stephen,  they  became 
so  greatly  alarmed  that,  no  longer  trusting  even  the  Indians  who  had 
accompanied  the  negro,  they  gave  them  all  they  possessed  except  the 
ornaments  used  in  the  celebration  of  the  mass,  and  forthwith  returned, 
by  double-days'  journey,  without  knowing  more  of  the  country  than  the 
Indians  had  told  them.  The  monks  returning  to  Culiacan,  reported 
the  results  of  their  attempted  journey  to  Coronado,  and  gave 
him  such  a  glowing  description  of  all  the  negro  had  discovered  and  of 
what  the  Indians  had  told  them,  "as  well  as  of  the  islands  filled  with 
treasure,  which  they  were  assured  existed  in  the  Southern  sea,"  t  that  he 
decided  to  depart  immediately  for  Mexico,  taking  with  him  Friar  Mar 
cos  de  Ni§a,  in  order  that  he  might  narrate  all  he  had  seen  to  the  vice 
roy.  He  also  magnified  the  importance  of  the  discovery  by  disclosing 
it  only  to  his  nearest  friends,  and  by  pledging  them  to  secrecy. 

Arrived  at  Mexico,  he  had  an  interview  with  the  viceroy,  and  pro 
claimed  everywhere  that  he  had  found  "the  seven  cities"  searched  for 
by  Nuno  de  Guzman,  and  busied  himself  with  preparing  an  expedition 
for  their  conquest.  Friar  Marcos  having  been  made,  through  the  influ 
ence  of  the  monks,  the  provincial  of  tne  Franciscans,  their  pulpits  re- 
logical  Society,  states  that  tlie  river  referred  to  above,  whose  current  was  so  strong 
and  which  Narvaez's  party  could  not  stem,  was  the  Mississippi ;  but  this  is  not  the  view 
of  Mr.  Smith,  who  has  laid  down  the  routes  of  Narvaez  and  party  as  extending  no 
further  west  than  Leaf  River,  which  lies  to  the  eastward  of  the  Mississippi  River.  His 
idea,  however,  that  the  island  of  Santa  Rosa,  at  the  mouth  of  Pensacola  Bay,  was 
Malhado,  I  think  erroneous,  for  the  reason  that  Cabeca  de  Vaca  expressly  says  this 
island  was  "  half  a  league  broad  and  five  leagues  (or  seventeen  miles)  long,"  whereas 
Santa  Rosa  Island,  according  to  the  maps,  is  as  much  as  forty-seven  miles  long.  It  is 
possible,  however,  that  by  accretions  the  island  may  have  attained  this  length  since 
Cabeca  de  Vaca  was  wrecked  upon  it. 

*  So  says  Castalie<la ;  but  Marcos  de  Nica,  in  his  account  of  his  journey,  distinctly 
states  that  he  approached  so  near  the  city  of  Cibola  that  from  a  high  elevation  he  could 
see  the  houses,  and  gives  quite  a  particular  description  of  them.  (Relation  of  Friar 
Marcos  de  Nica,  Ternaux  Compans'  Collections,  p.  279.) 

tCastaueda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  16. 


4  CORONADO'S   MARCH. 

sounded  with  the  marvels  of  discoveries  to  such  an  extent  that  in  a  few 
days  three  hundred  Spaniards  and  eight  hundred  Indians  were  assem 
bled  for  the  enterprise.  Among  the  former  were  a  great  many  gentle 
men  of  good  family,  and  probably  there  never  had  been  an  expedition 
in  which  there  was  such  a  large  proportion  of  persons  of  noble  birth. 
Francisco  Vasquez  de  Corouado,  the  governor  of  Xew  Galieia,  was  pro 
claimed  captain  general,  because  he  was  the  author  of  the  discovery, 
and  the  Viceroy  Mendoga  did  all  he  could  to  foster  the  enterprise. 

Believing  that  if  the  army  marched  from  the  city  of  Mexico  in  a  body 
the  Indian  allies  would  probably  snii'er,  the  viceroy  appointed  the  town 
•  of  Coinpostella,  capital  of  Xew  Galieia,  one  hundred  and  ten  leagues 
from  Mexico,  as  the  place,  and  Shrove  Tuesday,  1540,*  the  time  of  ren 
dezvous.  The  troops  having  left  Mexico,  he  ordered  Don  Pedro  d' Alar- 
con  to  depart  for  La  Xativitad,  on  the  coast  of  the  "  Southern  Sea,"  and 
with  two  vessels  to  go  to  Jalisco  to  take  the  supplies  which  the  soldiers 
could  not  transport.  After  performing  that  duty  he  was  to  follow  the 
march  of  the  army  along  the  coast,  for  it  was  believed,  according  to  the 
then  received  accounts,  that  the  army  would  never  be  distant  from  the 
vessels,  and  would  always  be  in  easy  communication  with  them  by 
means  of  the  rivers.t 

All  these  dispositions  having  been  made,  the  viceroy  departed  for 
Compostella  with  a  large  body  of  gentlefolks.  Everywhere  he  was  re 
ceived  with  great  6clat,  and  when  he  reached  Compostella  he  found  the 
army  well  lodged  and  entertained  by  Christoval  d'Onate,  captain  general 
of  that  country. 

He  reviewed  the  troops,  by  whom  he  was  received  with  great  rejoic 
ing,  and  the  next  day  after  mass  harangued  them,  lie  told  them  of 
their  duties  and  of  the  advantageous  result  that  this  conquest  would 
produce,  not  only  on  their  fortunes,  but  by  the  conversion  of  the  nations 
they  would  conquer,  as  well  as  for  the  service  of  his  Majesty,  who  on 
his  "side  promised  them  his  bounty  and  additional  favors.  Finally  he 
caused  every  one  to  be  sworn  on  a  missal  containing  the  Uoly  Evangels 
not  to  abandon  their  general  and  to  obey  all  his  commands. 

The  next  day  the  army  with  banners  Hying  took  up  the  line  of  march. 
For  two  days  the  viceroy  accompanied  if,  and  then  returned  to  Mexico. 
!^o  sooner,  however,  had  the  viceroy  left  the  army  than  it  began  to  ex 
perience  all  the  hardships  incident  to  a  wild,  mountainous  country.  The 
baggage  had  to  be  transported  on  horses,  and,  as  many  soldiers  had 
never  been  accustomed  to  load  them,  they  made  sorry  work  of  it.  The 
consequence  was  that  a  great  deal  of  their  baggage  was  abandoned,  and 
in  order  to  get  along  at  all  many  .a  gentleman  had  to  become  a  mule 
teer,  and  they  who  shirked  from  this  necessary  labor  were  regarded  by 
their  companions  as  lacking  spirit. 

Coronado  arriving  at  Chiametta  with,  his  army,  met  at  that  point 
Captains  Melchior  Diaz  and  Juan  de  Saldibar,  who  with  a  dozen  reso 
lute  men,  by  Corpnado's  orders,  had  explored  the  country  as  far  as  Chi- 
chilticale,  which  is  on  the  border  of  the  desert  and  two  hundred  leagues 
from  Culiacau.f    These  officers  gave  in  secret  to  the  general  such  a  dole- 
da's  Relations.  Ternanx  Oompans.  p.  24.     Castafiedji  says  1:>11,  1> ,; 
uanx  Company hftfl  remarked  in  a  note.  In-  evidently  must  have  made  a  mi.stuki-.  f 
letter  of  11.  ;><  i-or  ( 'h. tries  V,  reporting  the  organization  a.. 

of  the  expedition,  bears  date  April  IT,  1540. 

t  According  to  "Los  Tres  Si-'L.s  de  Mexieo,  torn.  T,  M.  sd<  0,  1836,"  j>.  1  •-".'.  "Mendoca 
dispatehed  Aiareon, -with  Two  ships,  to  observe  tl:  :>t'«th  de-: 

latitude,  wit  h  insl  ructions  to  make  iiv(|iu  n!  embarkation  a::d  i<-  join  the  army  at  that 
.:M.M 

t  Castafied:i  ^ives  in  one  place  two  hundred  leagues  a>  the  distance  :  and  in  another, 
two  hundred  and  twenty  leagues.  See  his  Kel.  Ternaux  Couipaus'  Col.,  pp.  12,  29. 


CORONADO'S   MARCH.  5 

ful  account  of  the  country  they  had  passed  through,  that,  it  leaking  out, 
many  in  the  army  began  to  lose  heart ;  and  it  was  only  by  Friar  Marcos 
de  Mca  insisting  upon  it,  that  the  country  was  a  good  one,  and  that 
they  should  not  leave  it  with  empty  hands,  that  they  were  persuaded  to 
continue  the  march. 

The  day  after  Easter,  the  army  took  up  its  march  for  Culiacan,  at 
which  place  they  were  well  received  by  the  citizens  and  furnished  with 
all  necessary  supplies.  This  was  the  last  town  inhabited  by  Spaniards, 
and,  therefore,  the  last  from  which  they  could  gather  provisions,  except 
from  the  Indians  with  whom  they  might  meet  in  their  further  march. 
It  is  represented  by  Castaneda,  as  being  two  hundred  and  ten  leagues 
from  the  city  of  Mexico.* 

After  resting  a  couple  of  weeks  at  Culiacan,  Coronadoled  the  advance 
of  his  army,  consisting  of  fifty  cavaliers,  a  few  infantry,  his  particular 
friends,  and  the  monks,  leaving  the  rest  of  the  army  with  orders  to  march 
a  fortnight  after,  and  to  follow  his  path.  As  Castaiieda,  describing  his' 
progress,  expresses  it,  "  when  the  general  had  passed  through  all  the 
inhabited  region  to  Onichilticale,  where  the  desert  begins,  and  saw  that 
there  was  nothing  good,  he  could  not  repress  his  sadness,  notwithstanding 
the  marvels  which  were  promised  further  on.  No  one  save  the  Indians 
who  accompanied  the  negro  had  seen  them,  and  already  on  many  occa 
sions  they  had  been  caught  in  lies.  He  was  especially  afflicted  to  find  this 
Ohichilticale,  of  which  so  much  had  been  boasted,  to  be  a  single,  ruined, 
and  roofless  house,  which  at  one  time  seemed  to  have  been  fortified.  It 
was  easy  to  see  that  this  house,  which  was  built  of  red  earth,  was  the 
work  of  civilized  people  who  had  come  from  afar. 

u  On  quitting  this  place  they  entered  the  desert.  At  the  end  of  fif 
teen  days  they  came  within  eight  leagues  of  Oibola,  on  the  banks  of  a 
river  which  they  named  Vermejo,  in  consequence  of  its  red  and  troubled 
water.  Mullets  resembling  those  of  Spain  were  found  in  it.  It  was 
there  that  the  first  Indians  of  the  country  were  discovered  5  but  when 
these  saw  the  Spaniards  they  fled  and  gave  the  alarm.  During  the  night 
of  the  succeeding  day,  when  not  more  than  two  leagues  from  the  village, 
some  Indians  who  were  concealed  suddenly  uttered  such  piercing  cries 
that  our  soldiers  became  alarmed,  notwithstanding  they  pretended  not 
to  regard  it  as  a  surprise ;  and  there  were  even  some  who  saddled  their 
horses  the  wrong  way,  but  these  were  men  who  belonged  to  the  new 
levies.  The  best  warriors  mounted  their  horses  and  scoured  the  coun 
try.  The  Indians,  who  knew  the  land,  escaped  easily,  and  not  one  of 
them  was  taken.  On  the  following  day,  in  good  order,  we  entered  the 
inhabited  country.  Cibola  was  the  first  village  we  discovered ;  on  be 
holding  it  the  army  broke  forth  with  maledictions  on  Friar  Marcos  de 
Niga.  God  grant  that  he  may  feel  none  of  them  ! 

"  Oibola  is  built  on  a  rock  $  this  village  is  so  small  that,  in  truth,  there 
are  many  farms  in  New  Spain  that  make  a  better  appearance.  It  may 
contain  two  hundred  warriors.  The  houses  are  built  in  three  or  four 
stories ;  they  are  small,  not  spacious,  and  have  no  courts,  as  a  single 
court  serves  for  a  whole  quarter.  The  inhabitants  of  the  province  were 
united  there.  It  is  composed  of  seven  towns,  some  of  which  are  larger 
and  better  fortified  than  Cibola.  These  Indians,  ranged  in  good  order, 
awaited  us  at  some  distance  from  the  village.  They  were  very  loth  to 
accept  peace ;  when  they  were  required  to  do  so  by  our  interpreters, 
they  menaced  us  by  their  gestures.  Shouting  our  war-cry  of  Saiit  lago, 
we  charged  upon  and  quickly  caused  them  to  fly. 

*  Castaileda's  Rel.,  Ternaux  Compaus'  Col.,  p.  149. 


fi  CORONADO'S    MARCH. 

"Nevertheless,  it  was  necessary  to  get  possession  of  Cibola,  which  was 
no  easy  achievement,  for  the  road  leading  to  it  was  both  narrow  and 
winding.  The  general  was  knocked  down  by  the  blow  of  a  stone  as  he 
mounted  in  the  assault,  and  he  would  have  boon  slain  had  it  not  been 
for  Garci  Lopez  de  Cardenas  and  Ilernando  d'Alvarado,  who  threw  them 
selves  before  him  and  received  the  blows  of  the  stones  which  were  de 
signed  for  him  and  fell  in  largo  numbers  5  nevertheless,  as  it  is  impos 
sible  to  resist  the  first  impetuous  charge  of  Spaniards,  the  village 
was  gained  in  less  than  an  hour.  It  was  found  lillecl  with  provisions 
which  were  much  needed,  and,  in  a  short  time  the  whole  province  was 
forced  to  accept  peace."* 

The  main  army,  which  had  been  left  at  Culiacan  under  the  command 
of  Don  Tristan  d? Arellano,  followed  Coronado  as  directed  by  him. 
every  one  matching  on  foot,  with  lance  in  hand  and  carrying  supplies. 
All  the  horses  were  laden.  Slowly  and  with  much  fatigue,  after  estab 
lishing  and  colonizing  Sonora,  and  endeavoring  to  find  the  vessels  under 
Alarcon  already  referred  to,  by  descending  the  river,  in  which  they 
failed,  the  army  reached  Cibola.  Here  they  found  quarters  prepared 
for  them  and  rejoiced  in  the  reunion  of  the  troops,  with  the  exception 
of  certain  captains  and  soldiers  who  had- been  detached  on  explorations. 

Meantime,  Captain  Melchior  Diaz,  who  had  been  left  at  Sonora,  placed 
himself  at  the  head  of  twenty-five  choice  men,  and  under  the  lead  of 
guides  directed  his  steps  towards  the  southwest  in  hopes  of  discovering 
the  coasts.  His  course  was  probably  down  the  liio  Sonora,  and  not 
finding  the  vessels  there  he  doubtless  marched  northward,  keeping  as 
close  to  the  coast  as  the  rivers  would  permit  him.  After  traveling 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  leaguesf  it  appears  he  arrived  in  a  country 
in  which  there  was  a  large  river,  called  liio  del  Tizon,  whose  mouth  was 
two  leagues  wide.  Here  the  captain  learned  that  the  vessels  under 
Alarcou  had  been  on  the  sea-coast,  at  a  distance  of  three  day.V  journey 
from  that  place.  In  the  language  of  Castaneda,  "  When  he  reached  the 
spot  that  was  indicated,  and  which  was  on  the  bank  of  the  river  more 
than  fifteen  leagues  from  its  mouth,  he  found  a  tree  on  which 
was  written  'Alarcon  has  come  thus  tar;  there  are  letters  at  the  foot  of 
this  tree.'  They  dug  and  found  the  letters,  which  apprised  them  that 
Alarcou,  after  having  waited  a  certain  length  of  time  at  that  spot,  had 
returned  to  3sTcw  Spain,  and  could  not  advance  further  because  that 
sea  was  a  gulf;  that  it  turned  around  the  Isle  of  the  Marquis,  which  had 
been  called  the  Isle  of  California,  and  that  California  was  not  an  island, 
but  a  part  of  land  forming  the  gulf.vj 

It  appears  that  after  a  good  deal  of  difficulty  and  a  threatened  attack 
from  the  natives,  the  party  crossed  the  liio  del  Tizon,  on  rafts,  some  iive 
or  six  days'  travel  higher  up,  and  continued  its  journey  along  the  coast. 
Quoting  from  Castaneda.  '•  When  the  explorers  had  crossed  the  liio  del 
Tizon,  they  continued  following  the  coast,  which  at  that  place  turns  to 
ward  the  southeast,  for  this  gulf  penetrates  the  land  directly  toward 
the  north,  and  the  stream  flows  exactly  toward  the  mouth  from  north 
to  south."  §  No  better  description  could  be  given  of  the  relative  posi 
tion  of  the  Gulf  of  California,  with  respect  to  the  Rio  Colorado  flowing 
into  it  from  the  north,  than  the  foregoing. 

This  expedition  was  terminated  by  the  death  of  Melchior  Diaz,  which 
occurred  in  a  very  singular  manner,  as  fallows:  "  One  day  a  greyhound 
belonging  to  a  Soldier  attacked  some  sheep  which  the  Spaniards  were 

*  Cast  a  m  'da's  Relations,  Tcnwux  C'nmpaiis,  pp.  -lit,  -11,  -1\>,  43. 

t  Castufk'ihi's  Relations.  Tcrnaux  Coiupans,  p.  -U). 

t  Castaiicda'a  Relations,  Ternaux  Oompan»,  pp.  r>0,  51.        $  Ibid,  p.  104. 


CORONADO'S   MARCH.  7 

driving  with  them  to  serve  as  food  in  case  of  need,  when  Captain  Mel- 
chior  Diaz  threw  his  lance  at  the  beast,  in  order  to  drive  him  off.  Un 
fortunately  the  weapon  stuck  in  the  ground  with  the  point  uppermost, 
and  as  Diaz  could  not  rein  in  his  horse,  who  was  at  a  gallop,  quickly 
enough,  it  pierced  his  thigh  through  and  through,  and  severed  his  blad 
der.  The  soldiers  at  once  decided  to  retrace  their  steps,  taking  their 
wounded  chief  with  them.  The  Indians,  who  were  always  in  rebellion, 
did  not  cease  attacking  them.  The  captain  lived  about  twenty  days, 
during  which  he  was  borne  along  with  the  utmost  difficulty.  When, 
at  length,  he  died,  all  his  troops  returned  in  good  array,  (to  Sonora,) 
without  the  loss  of  a  single  man,  and  after  traversing  the  most  dan 
gerous  places."* 

In  this  connection  it  maybe  interesting  to  give  some  account  of  Alar- 
con-s  discovery  of  the  Eio  Colorado.  It  will  be  recollected  that  he  was 
ordered  by  the  Viceroy  Mendoca  to  follow  the  march  of  the  army  with 
his  vessels  along  the  coast  of  the  Southern  Sea,  as  the  Pacific  Ocean 
was  then  called.  From  his  relation  to  the  viceroy  1 1  gather  the  following : 

On  the  9th  of  May,  1540,  Fernando  Alarcon  put  to  sea  from  La  Na- 
tivitad,  in  command  of  two  ships,  the  Saint  Peter  and  the  Saint  Cath 
erine.  He  put  into  the  ports  of  Xalisco  and  Agnaival,  (respectively  the 
ports  of  Coinpostella  and  Culiacan,)  and  finding  Coronado  and  his  army 
gone  from  this  last-mentioned  place,  he  continued  his  course  northwardly 
along  the  coast,  taking  with  him  the  ship  St.  Gabriel,  which  he  found 
there  laden  with  supplies  for  the  army.  At  length  arriving  towards  the 
upper  end  of  what  was  till  then  believed  to  be  a  strait  separating  an 
island  from  the  main  land,  but  which  he  discovered  to  be  a  gulf,  (the 
Gulf  of  California,)  he  experienced  great  difficulty  in  navigating,  even 
with  his  small  boats;  and  there  were  some  in  the  expedition,  he  remarks, 
who  lost  heart  and  were  anxious  to  return,  as  did  Captain  Francisco  de 
Ullva,  with  his  vessels,  in  a  former  voyage  of  discovery.  Alarcon,  it 
seems,  however,  had  the  necessary  pluck,  and,  agreeably  to  the  orders 
of  the  Viceroy  Mendoga,  he  was  determined  to  make  his  explorations  as 
thorough  as  possible.  After  incredible  hardships  he  managed  to  get 
his  vessels  to  the  bottom  of  the  gulf,  ("au  fond  du  gulfed)  Here  he 
found  a  very  great  river,  the  current  of  which  was  so  rapid,  that  they 
could  scarcely  stem  it.  Taking  two  shallops  and  leaving  the  others  with 
the  ships,  and  providing  himself  with  some  guns  of  small  caliber,  on 
the  26th  of  August,  1540,  he  commenced  the  ascent  of  the  river  by  haul 
ing  the  boats  with  ropes-!  ®R  u^s  waJ  ne  me^  a  large  number  of  Indians, 

*  Castafieda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  105. 

t  Ternaux  Compans'  Coll.,  p.  299-348. 

tTlie  most  reliable  information  in  relation  to  the  Colorado  River  will  be  found  in  the 
report  of  Lieutenant  Ives's  ascent  of  that  stream  in  1858.  (Ex.  Doc.  No.  — ,  36th  Con 
gress,  1st  session.) 

"  From  his  account  the  region  at  the  mouth  of  the  Colorado  is  a  flat  expanse  of  mud, 
and  the  channels  that  afford  entrance  from  the  gulf  are  shifting  and  changeable.  For 
30  miles  above  the  mouth  the  navigation  is  rendered  periodically  dangerous  by  the 
strength  and  magnitude  of  the  spring  tides. 

"  Between  the  tide- water  and  Fort  Yuma,  which  is  150  miles  from  the  mouth,  the 
principal  obstructions  are  sand-bars,  continually  shifting,  having  in  some  places  but 
two  feet  of  water  upon  them.  There  are  no  rocks,  but  snags  are  numerous  although 
not  very  dangerous. 

"  For  180  miles  above  Fort  Yuma  the  navigation  is  similar.  The  river  passes  througl 
several  chains  of  hills  and  mountains,  forming  gorges  or  caiions,  sometimes  of  a  con 
siderable  size.  In  these  there  is  generally  a  better  channel  than  in  the  valley. 

"  In  the  next  100  miles  gravelly  bars  are  frequent,  with  many  stretches  of  good  river 
and  although  the  bad  places  are  worse,  the  channel  is  better  than  below.    For  the  sue 
ceeding  50  miles  there  are  many  swift  rapids.    The  river  bed  is  of  coarse  gravel  'aucT 
sand,  and  there  are  some  dangerous  sunken  rocks.    The  Black  Canon,  which  is  25  miles 


8  CORONADO'S   MARCH. 

who  made  signs  to  him  to  return  down  the  river,  but  by  good  manage 
inent  lie  so  appeased  them  that  he  was  enabled  to  reach  a  distance 
above  the  mouth  of  the  river,  such  that  in  two  and  a  halt'  days,  on  his 
return  to  the  ships,  on  account  of  the  swiftness  of  the  current,  lie  made 
the  same  distance  he  had  in  iil'teen  and  a  half  days  in  ascending  the 
river.  Oil  this  expedition  he  learned  from  the  Indians  he  met,  some 
particulars  of  the  death  of  the  negro  Stephen,  before  referred  to,  at 
Cibola,  and  of  there  being  white  persons  like  themselves  at  that  place, 
who  doubtless  belonged  to  Coronado's  army.  Alarcon  was,  however, 
unable  to  communicate  with  the  army  on  account  of  the  desert  inter 
vening  between  them,  and  the  great  distance  they  were  apart. 

Ketitting  all  his  shallops  this  time  for  a  second  voyage  up  the  river. 
he  left  its  mouth  on  the  14th  of  September,  but  was  no  more  successful 
in  this  than  in  his  former  expedition  in  communicating  with  Coronado. 
Having,  therefore,  reached  as  far  up  the  river  as  he  thought  expedient, 
he  planted  a  cross  at  that  point,  and  deposited  at  its  foot  some  letters, 
in  the  hope  that  some  persons  of  Coronado's  army,  searching  for  news 
of  the  vessels,  might  find  them.  These  letters,  it  has  already  1  >een  stated, 
were  found  by  Melchior  Diaz  on  the  Kio  del  Tizon,  called  by  Alarcon 
the  "  ]>on  Guide,"  after  the  device  of  his  lordship  Don  Antonio  de  Men- 
a,  and  at  the  present  day  the  Kio  Colorado. 

At  the  end  of  Alarcon's  relation  to  the  viceroy  he  reports  that  he 
found  the  latitude,  as  given  by  the  "  patrons  and  pilots  of  the  Marquis 
del  Yalle,"  wrong  by  two  degrees ;  that  he  had  gone  further  by  four  de 
grees  than  they,  and  that  he  had  ascended  the  river  a  distance  of  eighty- 
five  leagues.*  This  report  of  Alarcon's  is  very  interesting  from  its  -great 
particularity  and  the  many  incidents  it  gives  of  the  expedition  ;  it  shows 
also  that  he  was  fully  equal  to  the  trust  committed  to  him,  and  that 
no  explorer  could  have  done  more  to  carry  out  the  orders  of  the  Viceroy 
Meudo§a. 

YVe  will  now  return  to  the  army  under  Coronado,  at  Cibola.  This 
general  immediately  set  to  work  to  explore  the  adjacent  country.  Hear 
ing  there  was  a  province  in  which  there  were  seven  towns  similar  to 
those  of  Cibola,  he  dispatched  hither  Don  Pedro  de  Tobar  with  seven 
teen  horsemen,  three  or  four  soldiers,  and  Friar  Juan  de  Padilla,  a  Fran 
ciscan,  who  had  been  a  soldier  in  his  youth,  to  explore  it.  u  The  rumor 
had  spread  among  its  inhabitants  that  Cibola  was  captured  by  a  very 
ferocious  race  of  people  who  bestrode  horses  that  devoured  men,  and  as 
they  knew  nothing  of  horses,  this  information  filled  them  with  the  greatest 
astonishment.''!  They,  however,  made  sonic  show  of  resistance  to  the 
invaders  in  their  approach  to  their  towns,  but  the  Spaniards  charging 
upon  them  with  vigor,  many  were  killed,  when  the  remainder  lied  to  the 
houses  and  sued  for  peace,  offering,  as  an  inducement,  presents  of  cotton 
stuff,  tanned  hides,  flour,  pine  nuts,  maize,  native  fowls,  and  some 
turquoises. 

These  people  informing  the  Spaniards  of  a  great  river  on  which  there 

long,  is  now  readied,  and  in  it  the  rapids  are  numerous  and  difiicult.  Calville  is  Minn- 
six  miles  above  the  head  of  this  canon."  (Letter  of  GeneraJ  A.  A.  Humphreys.  Chief 
of  Corps  of  Engineers  United  States  Army,  to  Secretary  of  War,  June  &4,  l-';~.  in  his 
annual  report  for  1868,  part  2,  p.  11J>5.) 

*Alareon's  orders  from  the  Viceroy  Mendoca,  as  before  staled,  in  a  note,  were  to 
explore  as  high  as  the  MOth  degree  of  hit  itnde.  According  to  his  own  account  of  tin- 
distance  he  \vent  nj)  the  .Kio  del  Ti/on,  (Colorado.)  he  must  have  explored  as  far  as 
about  the  i'.tth  degree,  and  ii'  lie  went  DO  higher  up  than  where  Melrhior  Dia/.  found 
the  tree,  at  the  foot  of  which  were  letters  fronf  Alarcon,  showing  that  there  was  the 
highest  point  to  \\hich  he  had  attained,  the  highest  latitude  he  reached  must  have  been 
only  about  the  :r.d  degree. 

tCastaflcda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Conipans,  p.  59. 


CORONADC-'S   MARCH.  9 

•were  Indians  living,  who  were  very  tall,  a  report  of  the  same  on  his 
return  to  Cibola  was  made  by  Don  Pedro  de  Tobar  to  Coronado,  who 
sent  out  another  party  consisting  of  twelve  men,  under  Don  Garci-Lopez 
de  Cardenas,  to  explore  this  river.  It  appears  from  Castaneda's  Eela- 
tious  that  the  party  passed  through  Tusayan  again  on  its  way  to  the 
river  and  obtained  from  its  inhabitants  the  necessary  supplies  and 
guides. 

After  a  journey  of  twenty  days  through  a  desert  it  seems  they  reached 
the  river,  whose  banks  were  so  high  that,  as  Castaiieda  expresses  it, 
"  they  thought  themselves  elevated  three  or  four  leagues  in  the  air.'7 
For  three  days  they  marched  along  the  banks  of  the  river,  hoping  always 
to  find  a  downward  path  to  the  water,  which  from  their  elevation  did 
not  seem  more  than  a  yard  in  width,  but  which  according  to  the  Indi 
ans'  account  was  more  than  half  a  league  broad.  But  their  efforts  to 
descend  were  all  made  in  vain.  Two  or  three  days  afterward,  having 
approached  a  place  where  the  descent  appeared  practicable,  the  cap 
tain,  Melgosa  Juan  Galeras,  and  a  soldier,  who  were  the  lightest  men  in 
the  party,  resolved  to  make  the  attempt.  They  descended  until  those 
who  remained  above  lost  sight  of  them,  They  returned  in  the  afternoon 
declaring  that  they  had  encountered  so  many  difficulties  that  they  could 
not  reach  the  bottom ;  for  what  appeared  easy  when  beheld  from  aloft, 
was  by  means  so  whtn  approached.  They  added  <that  they  compassed 
about  one-third  of  the  descent,  and  that  from  thence  the  river  already 
seemed  very  wide,  wThich  confirmed  what  the  Indians  stated.  They 
assured  them  that  some  rocks  which  were  seen  from  on  high,  and  did 
not  appear  to  be  scarcely  as  tall  as  a  man,  were  in  truth  loftier  than  the 
tower  of  the  cathedral  of  Seville.* 

Castaneda,  after  describing  the  further  progress  of  the  exploring  party, 
goes  on  to  say:  "The  river  was  the  Tizoii  (Colorado.)  A  spot  was 
reached  much  nearer  its  source  than  the  crossing  of  Melchior  Diaz  and 
his  people  (before  referred  to ;)  and  it  was  afterward  known  that  the 
Indians  which  have  been  spoken  of  were  the  same  nation  that  Diaz  saw. 
The  Spaniards  retraced  their  steps  (to  Cibola)  and  this  expedition  had 
no  other  result.'7!  « 

During  the  march  they  met  with  a  cascade  falling  from  a  rock.  The 
guides  said  that  the  white  crystals  hanging  around  it  were  formed  of 
salt.  They  gathered  and  carried  away  a  quantity  thereof,  which  was 
distributed  at  Cibola.f 

*  For  300  miles  the  cut  edges  of  the  table  land  rise  abruptly,  often  perpendicularly, 
from  the  water's  edge,  forming  walls  from  3,000  to  6,000  feet  in  height.  This  is  the 
great  canon  of  the  Colorado,  the  most  magnificent  gorge  as  well  as  the  grandest  geo 
logical  section  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge. 

Again,  the  caiion  of  the  Colorado  at  the  mouth  of  Grand  River  is  but  a  portion  of  the 
stupendous  chasm  which  its  waters  have  cut  in  the  strata  of  the  fable  lands,  and  of 
which  a  general  description  has  been  given.  At  this  point  its  walls  have  an  altitude 
of  over  3,000  feet  above  the  Colorado,  and  the  bed  of  the  stream  is  about  1,200  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  or  500  feet  higher  than  those  in  the  Black  Canon.  A  few 
miles  further  east,  where  the  surface  of  the  table  lands  has  an  altitude  of  nearly  7,000 
feet,  the  dimensions  of  the  caiion  become  far  more  imposing,  and  its  cliffs  rise  to  the 
height  of  more  than  a  mile  above  the  river.  (Report  of  Lieutenant  Joseph  C.  Ives, 
Corps  of  Topographical  Engineers  United  States  Army,  upon  the  Colorado  River, 
1857-'58,  Senate  Ex.  Doc.  30th  Congress,  1st  session.  Geology,  chapter  v,  p.  42 ;  Chap 
ter  vi,  p.  54.) 

t  Castafieda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  64. 

t  Lieutenant  Ives  speaks  of  having  found  salt  on  the  Flax  River,  which  Cardenas, 
party  undoubtedly  crossed  or  followed : 

"At  noon  to-day  we  came  to  the  object  of  our  search — a  well-beaten  Indian  trial' 
running  toward  the  north.  Camp  was  pitched  at  the  place  where  it  strikes  the  Flax 
River,  and  it  is  the  intention  to  make  the  second  attempt  to-morrow  to  penetrate  the 
unexplored  region.  Near  by  are  several  salt  springs,  and  scattered  over  the  adjacent 
surface  are  crystals  of  excellent  salt."  (Report  of  Lieutenant  Ives,  p.  117.) 


10  CORONADO'S    MARCH. 

I  have  thus  briefly,  described  the  explorations  which  were  made  by 
Coronado  and  his  captains,  as  tar  as  Cibola,  on  the  northern  edge  of  the 
great  desert  northward  of  Chichiltieale ;  the  branch  expedition  of  Mel- 
chior  Diaz  from  Sonora  northwestward  to  and  around  the  head  of  the 
Gulf  of  California,  after  crossing  the  Tizou  (Colorado,)  in  search  of  the 
vessels;  the  exploration  of  the  river  Tizou,  by  Alarcon,  in  boats 
for  'a  distance  of  85  Spanish  leagues,*  or  about  200  miles,  above  its 
mouth ;  the  expedition  of  Don  Pedro  de  Tobar  from  Cibola  to  Tusayan, 
lying  to  the  northwest  of  Cibola  twenty-live  leagues ;  and  the  exploration 
of  Don  Garci  Lopez  de  Cardenas  from  Cibola  through  Tusayan  west- 
wardly  to  the  deeply  canoned  river  Tizou.  I  shall  now  give  in  as  few 
words  as  I  can  some  account  of  Coronado's  subsequent  explorations  to 
the  eastward  of  Cibola. 

While  the  discoveries  above  mentioned  were  being  made,  some  In 
dians  living  seventy  leagues  towardsthe  east,  in  a  province  called  Cieuye, 
arrived  at  Cibola.  There  was  with  them  a  Cacique,  surname  Bigotes 
(Mustaches)  on  account  of  his  wearing  these  long  appendages.  They 
had  heard  of  the  Spaniards,  and  came  to  oifer  their  services  and  their 
friendship.  They  ottered  gifts  of  tanned  skins,  shields,  and  helmets, 
which  the  general  reciprocated  by  giving  them  necklaces  of  glass  beads, 
and  bells,  which  they  had  never  before  beheld.  They  informed  him  of 
cows,  because  one  of  these  Indians  had  one  painted  on  his  body."  Gas- 
taueda  goes  on  to  say,  but  "we  would  never  have  guessed  it,  from 
seeing  the  skins  of  these  animals,  for  they  are  covered  with  a  frizzled 
hair,  which  resembles  woolj"t  thus  showing  that  they  certainly  were 
buffaloes. 

The  general  ordered  Captain  Hernaudo  d'Alvarado  to  take  twenty 
nien  and  to  accompany  these  Indians,  but  to  return  in  eighty  days  to  ren 
der  an  account  of  what  he  might  have  seen.  Alvarado.  departed  with 
them,  and  "five  days  after  they  arrived  at  a  village  named  Acuco,  built 
on  a  rock.  The  inhabitants,  who  are  able  to  send  about  two  hundred 
warriors  into  the  field,  are  the  most  formidable  brigands  in  the  province. 
This  village  was  very  strongly  posted,  inasmuch  as  it  was  reached  by 
only  one  path,  and  was  built  upon  a  rock  precipitous  on  all  its  other 
sides,  and  at  such  a  height  that  the  ball  from  an  arquebuse  could  scarcely 
reach  its  summit.  It  was  entered  by  a  stairway  cut  by  the  hand  of  man, 
which  began  at  the  bottom  of  the  declivitous  rock  and  led  up  to  the  vil 
lage.  This  stairway  was  of  suitable  width  for  the  first  two  hundred 
steps,  but  after  these  there  were  a  hundred  more  much  narrower,  and 
when  the  top  was  finally  to  be  reached  it  was  necessary  to  scramble  up 
the  three  last  toises  by  placing  the  feet  in  holes  scraped  in  the  rock,  and 
as  the  ascender  could  scarcely  make  the  point  of  his  toe  enter  them  he 
was  forced  to  cling  to  the  precipice  with  his  hands.  On  the  summit 
there  was  a  great  arsenal  of  huge  stones,  which  the  defenders,  without 
exposing  themselves,  could  roll  down  on  the  assailants,  so  that  no  army, 
no  matter  what  its  strength  might  be,  could  force  this  passage.  There 
was  on  the  top  a  sufficient  space  of  ground  to  cultivate  and  store  a  large 
supply  of  corn,  as  well  as  cisterns  to  contain  water  and  suow/'J 

The  Indians  here,  as  at  Tusayan,  traced  lines  on  the  ground,  and  for 
bade  the  Spaniards  to  pass  over  them;  but  seeing  the  latter  disposed 

*  Common  Spanish  league  equals  3.42  American  miles.  (Uiiitcd  States  Ordnance 
Manual.) 

t  Castaueda'3  Krlaj  ions,  Ternaux Compaus,  p.  G&  "  II  est  ici  la  question  tlt-s  biaonfl,  quo 
1'auteur  nommr  toujmirs  racas.  Jo  me  servirai  dor<5navnnt  du  mot  de  bison."  (Note 


by  Ternaux  Compans.) 
t  Castafieda's  Relations, 


Ternaux  Compans,  pp.  66,  69,  70. 


CORONADO'S   MARCH.  11 

for  an  attack,  they  quickly  sued  for  peace,  and  presented  to  their  con 
querors  a  supply  of  birds'  bread,  tanned  deer-skins,  pine-nuts,  seeds, 
flour,  and  cbrn. 

Three  days'  journey  thence  Captain  Alvarado  and  party  reached  a 
province  called ^Tiguex^  where,  on  account  of  Bigotes,  whom  the  inhab 
itants  knew,  they  were  received  very  kindly  ;  and  the  captain  was  so 
well  pleased  with  what  he  saw  that  he  sent  a  messenger  to  Corouado 
inviting  him  to  winter- in  that  country,  which  pleased  the  general  greatly, 
as  it  made  him  believe  that  his  affairs  were  growing  better. 

Five  days'  journey  thence,  Alvarado  reached  Cicuye,  a  village  very 
strongly  fortified,  and  whose  houses  had  four  stories.  He  reposed  here 
with  his  party  some  days,  when  he  fell  in  with  an  "Indian  slave  who 
was  a  native  of  the  county  adjacent  to  Florida,  the  interior  of  which 
Fernando  de  Soto  had  lately  explored."* 

This  Indian,  whom  they  called  il  Turco,  (the  Turk,)  on  account  of  his 
resemblance  to  the  people  of  that  nation,  spoke  of  certain  large  towns, 
and  of  large  stores  of  gold  and  silver  in  his  country ,t  and  also  of  the 
country  of  the  bisons,  (buffaloes.)  Alvarado  took  him  as  a  guide  to  the 
bison  country,  and  after  he  had  seen  a  few  of  them  he  returned  to  Tig- 
uex  to  give  an  account  of  the  news  to  Coronado. 

In  the  order  of  events,  Coronado,  who  had  remained  at  Cibola  with 
the  main  body  of  the  army,  hearing  of  a  province  composed  of  eight 
towns,  took  with  him  thirty  of  the  most  hardy  of  his  men  and  set  out 
to  visit  it  on  his  way  to  Tiguex.  In  eight  or.  eleven  days  (the  narrative 
is  here  obscure)  he  reached  this  province,  called  Tutahaco,  which  ap 
pears  to  have  been  situated  on  the  Eio  de  Tiguex,  below  the  city  of  Tig 
uex,  for  Castaiieda  expressly  states  that  he  afterward  ascended  the 
river  and  visited  the  whole  province  until  he  arrived  at  Tiguex.  The 
eight  villages  composing  this  province  were  not  like  those  of  Cibola, 
built  of  stone,  but  of  earth.  He  also  learned  of  other  villages  still  fur 
ther  down  the  river. 

"  On  his  arrival  at  Tiguex,  Coronado  found  Hemando  d'Alvarado 
with  the  Turk,  and  was  not  a  little  pleased  with  the  news  they  gave 
him.  This  Indian  told  him  that  in  his  country  there  was  a  river  two 
leagues  wide,  in  which  fish  as  large  as  horses  were  found ;  that  there 
were  canoes  with  twenty  oarsmen  on  each  side,  which  were  also  pro 
pelled  by  sails ;  that  the  lords  of  the  land  were  seated  in  their  sterns 
upon  a  dais,  while  a  large  golden  eagle  was  affixed  to  their  prows.  He 
added  that  the  sovereign  of  this  region  took  his  siesta  beneath  a  huge 
tree,  to  whose  branches  golden  bells  were  hung,  which  were  rung  by 
the  agitation  of  the  summer  breeze.  He  declared,  moreover,  that  the 
commonest  vessels  were  of  sculptured  silver ;  that  the  bowls,  plates,  and 
dishes  were  of  gold.  He  called  gold  acocJiis.  He  was  believed  because 
he  spoke  with  great  assurance,  and  because  when  some  trinkets  of  cop 
per  were  shown  him  he  smelt  them,  and  said  they  were  not  gold. 
He  knew  gold  and  silver  very  well,  and  made  no  account  of  the  other 
metals.  The  general  sent  Hernando  d'Alvarado  to  Cicuye  to  reclaim 
the  golden  bracelets  which  the  Turk  pretended  had  been  taken  from 
him  when  he  was  made  prisoner.  When  Alvarado  arrived  there  the 
inhabitants  received  him  kindly,  as  they  had  done  before,  but  they  pos- 

*  Castaneda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  72.  The  basin  of  the  Mississippi  River 
and  tributaries,  in  former  days,  were  included  in  Florida  by  the  Spaniards.  (See  note, 
p.  90.) 

tThe  country  of  Quivira,  which  Coronada,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  sequel,  visited,  and 
which,  being  adjacent  to  Florida,  as  stated  above,  must  have  been  situated  in  the  coun 
try  tributary  to  the  Missouri  or  Mississippi,  and  not  near  the  Rio  Grande,  as  some  com 
mentators  have  supposed. 


12  CORONADO'S   MARCH. 

itively  affirmed  that  they  liad  no  knowledge  of  the  bracelets,  and  they 
assured  him  that  the  Turk  was  a  great  liar,  who  deceived  him.  Alvu- 
rado,  seeing  there  was  nothing  else  he  could  do,  lured  the  chief,  Bigotes, 
and  the  Cacique  under  his  tent,  and  caused  them  to  be  chained.  The 
inhabitants  reproached  the  captain  with  being  a  man  without  faith  or 
friendship,  and  launched  a  shower  of  arrows  oifliini."  Alvarado  con 
ducted  these  prisoners  to  Tiguex,  where  the  general  retained  them  more 
than  six  months."* 

This  affair  seems  to  have  been  the  beginning  of  Coron ado's  troubles 
with  the  Indians,  which  were  subsequently  increased  by  his  exacting 
a  large  quantity  of  clothing,  which  he  divided  among  his  soldiers. 

Two  weeks  after  Coronado  left  Cibola  for  Tiguex,  agreeably  to  his 
orders,  the  army  under  the  command  of  Don  Tristan  cr  Arellano  took  up 
its  march  from  that  place  for  Tiguex.  The  first  day  they  reached  the 
handsomest,  and  largest  village  in  the  province,  where  they  lodged. 
"  There  they  found  houses  of  seven  stories,  which  were  seen  no 
where  else.  These  belonged  to  private  individuals,  and  served  as 
fortresses.  They  rise  so  far  above  the  others  that  they  have  the  appear 
ance  of  towers.  There  are  embrasures  and  loop-holes  from  which  lances 
may  be  thrown  and  the  place  defended.  As  all  these  villages  have  no 
streets,  all  the  roofs  are  flat,  and  common  for  all  the  inhabitants ;  it  is 
therefore  necessary  to  take  possession,  first  of  all,  of  those  large  houses 
which  serve  as  defenses."! 

The  army  passed  near  the  great  rock  of  Acuco,  already  described, 
where  they  were  well  received  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  perched 
on  its  summit. 

Finally  it  reached  Tiguex,  where  it  was  well  received  and  lodged. 
The  good  news  given  by  the  Turk  cast  their  past  fatigues  into  oblivion, 
though  the  whole  province  was  found  in  open  revolt,  and  not  without 
cause,  for  on  the  preceding  day  the  Spaniards  had  burnt  a  village;  and 
we  have  already  seen  that  the  imprisonment  of  Bigotes  and  the  Turk', 
and  the  exactions  of  clothing  by  Cpronada,  had  also  very  greatly  exas 
perated  them.  The  result  of  all  this  was  that  the  Indians  generally  re 
volted,  as  they  said,  on  account  of  the  bad  faith  of  the  Spaniards,  and 
the  latter  retaliated  by  burning  some  of  their  villages,  killing  a  largo 
number  of  the  natives,  and  at  last  laying  siege  to  and  capturing  Tiguex. 
This  siege  lasted  fifty  days,  and  was  terminated  at  the  close  of  1540.J 

After  the  siege  the  general  dispatched  a  captain  to  Chia,  which  had 
sent  in  its  submission.  It  was  a  large  and  populous  village,  four  leagues 
west  of  the  Tiguex  River.  Six  other  Spaniards  went  to  Quirix,  a  prov 
ince  composed  of  seven  villages.  All  these  villages  were  at  length 
tranquilized  by  the  assiduous  efforts  of  the  Spaniards  to  regain  the 
confidence  which  they  had  justly  lost  by  their  repeated  breaches  of 
faith ;  but  no  assurances  that  could  be  given  to  the  twelve  villages  in  the 
province  of  Tiguex  would  induce  them  to  return  to  their  homes  so  long 
as  the  Spaniards  remained  in  the  country ;  and  no  wonder,  for  no  more 
barbarous  treachery  was  ever  shown  to  a  submissive  foe  than  had  been 
shown  to  these  Tigueans  by  these  faithless  Spaniards. 

So  soon  as  the  Tiguex  Kiver,  (Uio  Grande,)  which  had  been  frozen  for 
four  months,  was  sufficiently  free  from  ice,  the  army  took  up  its  march 
on  the  5th  of  May,  1541,  to  Quivira,  in  search  of  the  gold  and  silver  which 

*Castafu  da's  Ivrlations,  Tornanx  Compans.  pp.70,  77,  78. 

tCastafieda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans.  p.  80. 

tCastafirda  Bays  ir..i-_>,  evidently  an  error,  as  may  be  ascertained  by  accounting  for 
the  tirao  consumed  by  the  army  in  its  march  from  Chiametla,  "which  it  left  on  tlio  next 
day  after  Easter,  1540.  (See  ante,  p.  12.) 


CORON ADO'S   MARCH.  13 

•» 

the  Turk  had  said  could  be  found  there.  Its  route  was  via  Cicuye, 
twenty -five  leagues  distant.  The  fourth  day  after  leaving  Cicuye  and 
crossing  some  mountains  it  reached  a  large  and  very  deep  river,  which 
passed  pretty  near  to  Cicuye,  and  was  therefore  called  the  Rio  de  Cicuye. 
Here  it  was  delayed  four  days  to  build  a  bridge.  Ten  days  after,  on 
their  march,  they  discovered  some  tents  of  tanned  buffalo  skins,  inhabited 
by  Indians  who  were  like  Arabs,  and  who  were  called  Querechaos ; 
continuing  their  march  in  a  northeastwardly  direction  they  soon  came 
to  a  village  in  which  Cabeca  de  Vaca  and  Dorantes  (mentioned  in  the 
first  part  of  this  paper)  had  passed  through  on  their  way  from  Florida 
to  Mexico.*  The  army  met  with  and  killed  an  incredible  number  of 
buft'alo.t  and  after  reaching  a  point  250  leagues  (850  miles)  from  Tiguex, 
the  provision  giving  out,  Coronado,  with  thirty  horsemen  and  six  foot- 
soldiers,  continued  his  march  in  search  of  Quivira,  while  the  rest  of  the 
army  returned  to  Tiguex  under  the  command  of  Don  Tristan  d'Arellano. 
The  narrative  goes  on  to  say :  "  The  guides  conducted  the  general  to 
Quivira  in  forty-eight  days,  for  they  had  traveled  too  rnucji  in  the  direc 
tion  of  Florida.  At  Quivira  they  found  neither  gold  nor  silver,  and 
learning  from  the  Turk  that  he  had,  at  the  instance  of  the  people  of 
Cicuye,  purposely  decoyed  the  army  far  into  the  plains  to  kill  the  horses, 
and  thus  make  the  men  helpless  and  fall  an  easy  prey  to  the  natives, 
and  that  all  he  had  said  about  the  great  quantity  of  silver  and  gold  to 
be  found  there  was  false,  they  strangled  him.  The  Indians  of  this 
region,  so  far  from  having  large  quantities  of  gold  and  silver,  did  not 
even  know  these  metals.  The  Cacique  wore  on  his  breast  a  copper  plate, 
of  which  he  made  a  great  parade,  which  he  would  not  have  done  had  he 
known  anything  about  those  precious  metals.  The  army,  as  stated 
above,  retreated  to  Tiguex  before  reaching  Quivira.  They  took  as 
guides  some  Teyans,  through  whose  country  they  were  passing,  and 
were  led  back  by  a  much  more  direct  way  than  that  they  pursued  in 
coming.  These  Teyaus  were  a  nomadic  nation,  and  being  constantly  m 
the  pursuit  of  game  knew  the  country  perfectly."  It  is  narrated  they 
guided  the  army  thus :  Every  morning  they  watched  to  note  where  the 
sun  rose,  and  directed  their  way  by  shooting  an  arrow  in  advance,  and 
then  before  reaching  this  arrow  they  discharged  another ;  in  this  way 
they  marked  the  whole  of  their  route  to  the  spot  where  water  was  to  be 
found,  and  where  they  encamped.  "  The  army  consumed  only  twenty- 

*  It  will  be  recollected  that  it  was  on  information  given  by  these  persons  and  two 
others,  Maldonado  and  the  negro  Estevan,  that  this  expedition  was  founded.  (See 
ante  p.  310.) 

t  The  following  minute  and  graphic  description  of  the  buffalo,  seen  by  Coronado  and 
his  army,  is  taken  from  Goinara,  as  quoted  in  Hakluyt's  Voyages,  vol.  iii.  "  These  oxen 
are  of  the  bigness  and  color  of  our  bulls,  but  their  horns  are  not  so  great.  They  have 
a  great  bunch  upon  their  fore-shoulders,  and  more  hair  upon  their  fore  part  than  on 
their  hinder  part ;  and  it  is  like  wool.  They  have,  as  it  were,  a  horse  inane  upon  their 
back  bone,  and  much  hair,  and  very  long  from  the  knees  downward.  They  have  great 
tufts  of  hair  hanging  down  their  foreheads,  and  it  seeineth  they  have  beards,  because 
of  the  great  store  of  hair  hanging  down  at  their  chins  and  throats.  The  males  have 
very  long  tails,  and  a  great  knob  or  flock  at  the  end,  so  that  in  some  respects  they 
resemble  the  lion,  and  in  some  other  the  camel.  They  push  with  their  horns,  they  run, 
they  overtake  and  kill  a  horse  when  they  are  in  their  rage  and  anger.  Finally,  it  is  a 
fierce  beast  of  countenance  and  form  of  body.  The  horses  fled  from  them,  either  be 
cause  of  their  deformed  shape,  or  else  because  they  had  never  seen  them.  Their  mas 
ters  have  no  other  riches  nor  substance  ;  of  them  they  eat,  they  drink,  they  apparel, 
they  shoe  themselves ;  and  of  their  hides  they  make  many  things,  as  houses,  shoes, 
apparel,  and  ropes ;  of  their  bones  they  make  bodkins ;  of  their  sinews  and  hair,  thread ; 
of  their  horns,  maws  and  bladders,  vessels ;  of  their  dung,  fire ;  and  of  their  calf  skins, 
budgets,  wherein  they  draw  and  keep  water.  To  be  short,  they  make  so  many  things 
of  them  as  they  have  need  of,  or  as  may  suffice  them  in  the  use  of  this  life." 

21  S 


14  CORONADO'S   MARCH. 

five  days  on  the  journey,  and  oven  then  much  time  was  lost.  The  first 
time  it  had  taken  thirty-seven  days."* 

"  On  the  road  they  passed  a  great  number  of  salt  marshes  where  there 
was  a  considerable  quantity  of  salt.  Pieces  longer  than  tables  and  four 
or  five  inches  thick  were  seen  floating  on  the  surface.  On  the  plains 
they  found  an  immense  number  of  small  animals  resembling  squirrels, 
and  numerous  holes  burrowed  by  them  in  the  earth ."t  These  animals 
were  most  unquestionably  the  little  prairie-dogs  whose  villages  have 
been  so  naively  described  by  Washington  Irving  and  George  Wilkins 
Kendall.  On  this  march  the  army  reached  the  river  Cicuye,  more  than 
thirty  leagues  below  the  place  where  they  had  before  crossed  it  by  a 
bridge.  They  then  ascended  the  river,  by  following  the  banks,  to  the 
town  of  Cicuye.  The  guides  declared  that  this  river,  the  Cicuye,  (no 
doubt  the  Pecos,)  at  a  distance  of  more  than  twenty  days'  journey, 
threw  itself  into  that  of  Tiguex,  (the  Kio  Grande,)  and  that  subsequently 
it  flowed  toward  the  east.  Castaiieda  goes  on  to  say:  "It  is  believed 
that  it  (the  Tiguex)  joins  the  great  river  of  Espiritu  Sancto  (Mississippi 
Kiver)  that  the  party  of  Heruando  de  Soto  discovered  in  Florida. "t 

The  army  under  Arellano  reaching  Tiguex,  on  its  return  from  the 
prairies  in  the  mouth  of  July,  1541,  this  ofiicer  immediately  ordered 
Captain  Francisco  de  Barrio-Nuevo  to  ascend  the  Rio  de  Tiguex  (Eio 
Grande)  in  another  direction  with  some  soldiers  on  an  exploring  expe 
dition.  They  reached  the  provinces,  one  of  which,  comprising  seven 
villages,  was  called  Hemes ;  the  other,  Yuque- Yunque. 

Twenty  leagues  (G8  miles)  further  in  ascending  the  river,  they  came  to 
a  large  and  powerful  village  named  Braba,  to  which  the  Spaniards  gave 
the  new  title  of  Yalladolid.  "  It  was  built  on  the  two  banks  of  the  river, 
which  was  crossed  by  bridges  built  with  nicely-squared  timber."  §  The 
country  was  very  high  and  cold.  From  Braba  the  exploring  party  re 
tained  to  Tiguex.  Another  party,  it  seems,  went  down  the  Bio  de  Tig 
uex  (Kio  Grande)  eighty  leagues,  where  they  discovered  four  large  vil 
lages,  and  "  reached  a  place  where  the  river  plunged  beneath  the  ground; 
but  inasmuch  as  their  orders  confined  them  toa  distauceof  eighty  leagues, 
they  did  not  push  on  to  the  place  where,  according  to  the  Indians'  accounts, 
this  stream  escapes  again  from  the  earth  with  considerably  augmented 
volume."  || 

*  Castaneda's  Relations,  pp.  133,  134. 

t  Castaneda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  I'M.   . 

j"  VARIOUS  NAMES  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  RIVER. — I  remember  to  have  seen  in  the 
course  of  my  reading  the  following  Indian,  Spanish,  and  French  names  applied  to  the 
river  Mississippi ;  and  it  may  be  well  to  record  them  in  your  maga/.ine  for  p reserva 
tion,  and  prohaMy  to  be  augmented  in  number  by  other  students  ot' American  history  : 

"Indian  )iai>u-x. — Mien — king  of  rivers;   Mescha-Sil>i-Meseha,  great  and  Sibi  River; 
Namosi-Sipon — Fish  River;  Okimo-chitto— Great  Water  path— aChocta  name  :  M 
seepe  ;    Meaet-eliassipi — old  father  of   rivers,  according  to  Du  Pratz;    Malbonehia, 
according  to  Ibervillc. 

"Frenrh.— Riviere  do  St.  Louis;  Riviere  do  Colbert ;  Mississippi. 

"Spanish. — Rio  Grande;  Rio  Grande  del  Espiritu  Santo;  Rio  de  la  Enlata  ;  Rio  de  la 
Talisada  ;  Rio  de  Chuchaqna. 

"  The  Vernci  Ptolemy  of  1513  lays  it  down,  or,  at  least,  marks  a  river  without  a  name, 
at  the  site  of  its  embouchure.     Orbus  Typis,  1515;  Pineda's  map.  1. ">!!>:  other  I 'to!. 
l.Yj;>;  C'abeea  de  Vaea  saw  it  ill  1528.     Do  Soto  crossed  it  in  June,  1541,  and   died   in 
Louisiana,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  opposite  the  month  of  the  llig  Black 
River.  .May  -Jl,  l.Vl^. 

"BRANT/  MAYER. 

"BAI.TIMUKK,  October  15,  1857." 

— (See  Historical  Magazine,  vol.  1,  p.  342.) 

$  Castaneda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  139. 

||  Castaneda's  Rrlat  ions,  Ternanx  Compans,  p.  1  10.  Mr.  Albert  Gallatin,  commenting 
on  this  passage,  cays :  "  The  assertion  that  the  river  was  lost  under  ground  wi>  $  a  mistake. 


CORONADO'S   MARCH.  15 

We  shall  now  return  to  Coronado,  whom  we  left  at  Quivira.  It  appears 
that,  in  consequence  of  his  not  arriving  at  Tiguex  at  the  expected  time, 
Don  Tristan  d>  Arellano  set  out  in  search  of  him  with  forty  horsemen. 
At  Cicuye  the  inhabitants  attacked  Don  Tristan,  by  which  he  was  de 
layed  four  days.  Hearing  of  the  approach  of  Coronado,  he  contented 
himself  with  guarding  the  passes  in  the  vicinity  of  the  village  till  the 
arrival  of  the  general.  Castaneda  says  that,  "  notwithstanding  he  had 
good  guides,  and  was  not  incumbered  with  baggage,  Coronado  was  forty 
days  in  making  the  journey  from  Quivira."*  From  Cicuye  he  journeyed 
to  Tiguex,  where  he  went  into  winter  quarters,  with  the  intention  in  the 
spring  of  pursuing  his  discoveries  by  pushing  his  whole  army  toward 
Quivira. 

"  When  winter  was  over  Corouada  ordered  the  preparation  to  be  made 
for  the  march  to  Quivira.  Every  one  then  began  to  make  his  arrange 
ments.  Nevertheless,  as  often  happens  in  the  Indies,  things  did  not 
turn  out  as  people  intended,  but  as  God  pleased.  One  day  of  festival 
the  general  went  forth  on  horseback,  as  was  his  custom,  to  run  at  the 
ring  with  Don  Pedro  Maldonado.  He  was  mounted  on  an  excellent 
horse,  but  his  valets  having  changed  the  girth  of  his  saddle  and  having 
taken  a  rotten  one,  it  broke  in  mid-course  and  the  rider  unfortunately 
fell  near  Don  Pedro,  whose  horse  was  in  full  career,  and  in  springing 
over  his  body  kicked  him  in  the  head,  thus  inflicting  an  injury  which 
kept  him  a  long  while  in  bed  and  placed  him  within  two  fingers  of 
death."! 

The  result  of  this  was  that  being  of  a  superstitious  nature  and  hav 
ing  been  foretold  by  a  certain  mathematician  of  Salamanca,  who  was 
his  friend,  that  he  should  one  day  find  himself  the  omnipotent  lord  of  a 
distant  country,  but  that  he  should  have  a  fall  which  would  cause  his 
death,  he  was  very  anxious  to  hasten  home  to  die  near  his  wife  and 
children.  From  this  time,  Castaneda  states,  that  -Corooado,  feigning 
himself  to  be  more  ill  than  he  was,  worked  upon  his  soldiery  in  so  subtle 
a  way  as  to  induce  the  greater  part  of  them  to  petition  him  to  return  to 
New  Spain.  They  then  began  openly  to  declare  their  belief  that  it  was 
better  to  return,  inasmuch  as  fno  rich  country  had  been  found,  and  it 
was  not  populous  enough  to  distribute  it  among  the  army.  The  general, 
finding  no  one  to  oppose  him,  took  up  his  line  of  march  on  his  return  to 

This  was,  undoubtedly,  the  place  in  latitude  31°  39',  where  the  Rio  del  Norte,  cutting 
through  the  mountains,  empties  into  a  deep  and  impassable  canon,  from  which  it  emerges 
some  distance  below,  as  has  been  before  stated."  (See  Transactions  of  American  Ethno 
logical  Society,  vol.  ii,  p.  71.) 

Mr.  Gallatiu,  though  usually  very  judicious  in  his  remarks,  I  think  is  at  fault  here. 
The  cause  of  the  river  disappearing  at  the  point  referred  to,  and  then  appearing  again 
further  down,  was  not  on  account  of  its  entering  a  canon,  which  the  Spaniards  could 
have  noticed  and  not  been  deceived  about,  but  because  the  Rio  Tiguex,  (Rio  Grande,) 
like  most  of  the  rivers  which  I  have  seen  on  the  plains  and  in  New  Mexico,  is  liable, 
when  very  low,  to  be  lost  in  its  sandy  bed,  and  then  to  appear  again  further  down,  where 
the  sand  is  not  sufficient  to  absorb  it.  It  is  on  this  account,  as  I  have  seen,  when  the 
heat  of  the  sun  added  its  potent  influence  to  cause  a  river  to  disappear  through  the 
day,  that  during  the  night,  when  this  influence  did  not  prevail,  it  would  again  appear 
a  running  stream. 

Hurnboklt  refers  to  a  disappearance  of  the  Rio  Grande,  which  appears  to  have  taken 
place  about  the  same  locality,  and  also  attributes  it  to  a  wrong  cause.  "  The  inhab 
itants  of  Paso  del  Norte  preserve  the  memory  of  a  very  extraordinary  event  which 
occurred  in  the  year  1752.  They  saw,  all  at  once,  the  river  become  dry,  thirty  leagues 
above,  and  more  than  twenty  leagues  below,  El  Paso;  the  water  of  the  river  precipi 
tated  itself  in  a  newly-formed  crevasse,  and  did  not  appear  again  above  ground  until 
you  reach  the  Presidio  de  San  Elezario."  (Humboldt's  Essai  Politique  Sur  le  Royaume 
de  la  Nouvelle  Hispagne,  edition  1811,  p.  303.) 

*  Castaneda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  142. 

t  Castafleda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  202. 


16  CORON ADO'S   MARCH. 

Mexico  in  the  beginning  of  April,  1542.  He  returned  by  the  way  of 
Cibola  and  Chichilticale,  as  he  had  come..  At  length,  after  skirmishing 
with  the  Indians,  in  which  a  number  of  their  men  and  horses  were  killed. 
the  army  reached  Culiacan.  From  this  place  Ooronado  departed  for  the 
city  of  Mexico,  to  make  his  report  to  the  viceroy,  only  about  one  hun 
dred  of  his  army  continuing  with  him.  "Castaiicda  says  he  was  badly 
received  by  the  viceroy,  who  nevertheless  gave  him  a  discharge;  yet  be 
lost  Ms  reputation  and  soon  after  his  government  o't'Xew  Galicia  also/'* 
Thus  ended  this  great  expedition,  which  for  extent  in  distance  trav 
eled,  duration  in  time,  extending  from  the  spring  of  1540  to  the  summer 
of  154.2,  or  more  than  two  years,  and  the  multiplicity  of  its  cooperating 
branch  explorations,  equaled,  if  it  did  not  exceed,  any  land  expedition 
that  has  been  undertaken  in  modern  times. 


Having  given  a  general  account  of  the  routes  pursued  by  Coronado 
and  his  army  and  of  the  track  of  the  transport  vessels  under  Alar- 
con,  I  will  now  proceed  to  fix  definitely,  so  far  as  I  have  been  enabled, 
the  position  of  the  several  important  places  mentioned  by  Castaneda 
and  other  chroniclers. 

The  first  important  point  after  leaving  the  city  of  Mexico  is  Compos- 
tella,  where  the  army  rendezvoused  preparatory  to  its  setting  out  on  its 
expedition.  This  point  reached,  the  army,  in  an  organized  condition, 
took  up  its  line  of  march  along  the  foot  of  tlie  west  base  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada  in  the  direction,  west  of  nprth,  as  iar  as  Soiiora,  on  the  Sonora 
River;  from  this  place  its  course  was  most  probably  more  directly 
towards  Chichilticale,  or  northerly,  through  the  mountains,  as  far  as 
the  plains  of  the  lower  portion  of  the  Kio  Santa  Cruz,  over  which  it 
continued  its  march  to  Chichilticale. 

The  towns  of  CAmpostella,  Culiacan,  Cinaloa,  and  Sonora,  points  of 
the  routes,  are  laid  down  from  the  "  military  map  of  the  United  States." 
recently  issued  from  the  office  of  the  Chief  of  Engineers  United  States 
War  Department.  The  other  points  are  laid  down  from  data  obtained 
as  follows:  Chianietla,  from  "American  Atlas,  by  Mr.  Thomas  Jell  revs, 
London,  A.  D.  1775;"  Petatlan,  30  leagues  north  of  Culiacau  according 
to  Castaiieda,t  and  four  days' journey  according  to  Jaramillo.f 

With  regard  to  the  position  of  the  town  of  Corazones,  it  is  difficult,  on 
account  of  the  vagueness  of  the  narratives  of  Jaramillo  and  Corouado,  to 
fix  it.  Jaramillo  speaks  of  it  as  having  been  situated  about  five  days' 
journey  northwardly  from  the  Yaquemi  River,  and  conveys  the  idea 
that  it  was  near  or  on  the  Rio  Souora.§  Castaneda  says,  "  in  the  lower 
part  of  the  valley  of  Sonora  is  that  of  the  Corazoues,  inhabited  by 
Spaniards." 1 1  Again,  "Don  Tristan  decided  to  found  and  colonize  a 
town  called  San  Hieronimo  de  los  Corazones  ;  but  seeing  that  it  could  not 
prosper  in  this  valley,  he  transferred  it  to  a  place  called  Senora, 

*Castaneda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  227.  Gomor;i  says,  ••  If  grieved  Don 
Antonio  de  Mendoea  very  much  that  the  army  returned  home,  for  he  had  spent  about 
three-score  thousand  pe*0*  Of  cold  in  tin-  enterprise  and  owed  a  ^reat  part  thereof  still. 
Many  sought  to  have  dxvelt  there,  but  Francisco  Vrasi|iiex  de  C'orouado,  who  was  rich 
and  lately-married  a  fair  wife,  would  not  consent,  saying  that  they  could  not  maintain 
nor  defend  themselves  In  so  poor  a  country  and  so  far  iV.»m  succor,  They  traveled 
about  'J(H)  leagues  in  this  country."  (The  rest  of  the  voyage  to  Acuco,  Ti.i^uex,  Cieuie, 
and  Quivira,  from  the  General  History  of  the  West  Indies,  by  Francis  Lopez  de  Cn>inora, 
as  quoted  by  Haklnyt,  vol.  iii.) 

H'astafieda's  Delations.  TVrnaux  Compans,  p.  223. 

t  Jaramillo' s  Delations,  p.  :j(if>. 

$  Jaramillo's  Relations.  Ternaux  Compaus,  p.  366. 

UCastaneda's  Relations,  p.  137. 


CORON ADO^S   MARCH.  17 

;Sonora,)  and  it  lias  been  so  called  to  this  day."*  Again,  in  another 
part  of  his  Relations,  describing  the  places  between  the  Sonora  River 
and  Ohichilticale,  he  informs  us  that  "  it  was  forty  leagues  from  Sonpra 
to  the  valley  of  the  Suya,  where  was  founded  the  city  of  San  Hier- 
onimo."t  Now,  my  idea  is,  that  the  town  of  Corazones  on  the  Sonora 
River  was  Sonora,  so  called  because  it  was  eminently  the  town  of  the 
province  of  Corazones,  in  which  it  was  situated;  and  that  San  Hieronimo 
de  los  Corazones  was  situated,  according  to  Coronado,  ten  or  twelve 
leagues  from  the  sea,f  and,  as  above  stated,  forty  leagues  from  Sonora, 
on  the  Suya  River;  which  would  place  it  about  where  I  have  located  it, 
on  a  river  which  is  now  called  the  San  Ignacio.f 

From  Sonora  the  march  was,  according  to  Jaramillo,  four  days  to  the 
]$"expa  River.  Jaramillo  says:  "After  leaving  Sonora  we  made  a  journey 
of  four  days  in  a  desert,  and  arrived  at  another  stream,  which  we  under 
stood  was  called  Nexpa.  We  descended  the  stream  two  days,  and  we 
quitted  it  to  the  right  at  a  foot  of  a  chain  of  mountains,  which  we 
followed  two  days.  They  told  us  that  it  was  called  Chichilticale.  After 
having  left  the  mountains  we  came  to  a  deep  creek,  the  banks  of  which 
were  escarped.  After  quitting  this  stream,  which  is  beyond  the  ETexpa 
of  which  I  have  spoken,  we  took  a  northeast  direction,"  &c.|| 

Now  the  Nexpa,  the  stream  they  descended  two  days,  I  believe  was 
the  Santa  Cruz,  running  in  a  northerly  direction,  (the  proper  direction 
of  their  march ;)  the  mountains,  at  the  foot  of  which  they  also  traveled 
two  days,  were  the  "  Santa  Catarina  Mountains ;"  and  the  stream  which 
they  then  reached  was  the  Gila,  whose  deep  bed  and  escarped  banks  so 
exactly  correspond  with  the  description  given  by  Jaramillo.^ 

The  next  important  place  was  Chichilticale.  Here  was  the  Casa 
Grande  of  which  so  much  had  been  reported,  and  here  the  army  com 
menced  its  march  northeastwardly  across  the  great  desert,  on  the  far 
side  of  which  were  the  seven  cities  of  Cibola.  That  the  Casa  Grande 
was  so  situated,  with  regard  to  Cibola,  there  is  no  dispute ;  but  of  its 
exact  location  there  is  some  question. 

Castaneda  says:  "  At  Chichilticale  the  country  ceases  to  be  covered 
with  thorny  trees,  and  changes  its  aspect ;  it  is  there  the  gulf  terminates, 
and  the  coast  turns  (C^est  la  que  le  golfe  se  termine  et  que  la  cote  tourne;) 
the  mountains  follow  the  same  direction,  and  they  must  be  crossed  to 
reach  the  plains  again."** 

*  Castaneda's  Relations,  p.  44.  t  Ibid.,  p.  158. 

t  The  sea  (Gulf  of  California)  returneth  towards  the  west,  right  against  the  Corazones, 
the  space  often  or  twelve  leagues.  (Coronado' s  ReL,  Hakluyt,  vol.  iii,  p.  448.) 

§  In  this  connection  it  may  be  pertinent  to  remark,  that  San  Hieronimo  de  los  Cora- 
zones,  which  seems  to  have  been  a  sort  of  dep6t,  was  transferred  to  Sonora ;  but  appears 
still  to  have  been  kept  as  a  post,  for  we  are  told  that  some  of  its  garrison  deserted  it, 
for,  among  other  reasons,  that  they  looked  on  it  as  useless,  "  for  the  road  to  New  Spain 
passed  by  a  more  favorable  direction,  leaving  .Suya  to  the  right."  This  will  account 
for  two  routes  being  laid  down  on  the  accompanying  map  between  Sonora  and  the 
Nexpa  River. 

||  Jaramillo's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compaus,  pp.  367  and  368. 

IT  Mr.  E.  G.  Squier  supposes  the  Nexpa  to  have  been  the  Rio  Gila.  His  language  is : 
"Allowing  30  miles  to  the  day's  march,  which  is  about  the  average  under  favorable 
circumstances,  we  have  120  miles  as  the  distance  between  the  point  on  the  Sonora 
River  left  by  Coronado  in  his  advance  and  Chichilticale,  between  longitudes  109°  and 
110°.  This  is,  according  to  the  best  maps,  about  the  distance  between  the  Sonora  River 
and  the  Gila,  called  Nexpa  by  the  chronicler."  (American  Review  for  November,  1848, . 
p.  6.) 

I  cannot  agree  with  Mr.  Squier  in  the  foregoing  statement,  for  the  reason  that  the 
distance  between  the  Sonora  River  and  the  Gila,  according  to  the  latest  map  issued  by 
the  Engineer  Department  of  the  Army,  is  not  120  miles,  but  as  much  as  290  miles ;  and,, 
therefore,  as  many  as  eight  or  ten  days'  journey  instead  of  four. 

**  Castaneda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compaus,  p.  160. 
2 


IS  CORONADO'S   MARCH. 

Now  this  certainly  shows  that  Castaneda  believed  Chichilticale  was 
situated  at  the  head  of  the  Gulf  of  California.  But  according  to  Coro- 
uado's  report  to  the  viceroy  Meiidoga,  this  assuredly  was  not  the  case; 
for  he  says:  "I  departed  for  the  Corazones,  and  always  kept  by  the  sea- 
coast  as  near  as  I  could  judge,  and,  in  very  deed,  I  still  found  myself 
the  farther  off,  in  such  sort  that,  when  I  arrived  at  Chichilticale,  I  found 
myself  ten  days7  journey  from  the  sea,  and  the  father  provincial  (Marcos 
de  Ni5a)  said  that  it  was  only  five  leagues  distant,  and  he  had  seen  the 
same.  We  all  conceived  great  grief,  and  were  not  a  little  confounded, 
when  we  saw  that  we  found  everything  contrary  to  the  information 
which  he  had  given  to  your  lordship."* 

In  another  place,  Corouado  states  that  the  transport  ships  which  had 
been  ordered  to  cooperate  with  him  had  been  seen  off  the  country  of 
the  Corazones,  on  their  way  to  u  discover  the  haven  of  Chichilticale, 
which  Marcos  de  Nic.a  said  was  in  five-ami- thirty  degrees/'t 

The  above  certainly  shows  that  both  De  Nica  and  Castafieda  at  one 
time  believed  that  Chichilticale  was  at  the  head  of  the  gulf;  and  it  is 
probable  that  both  the  transport  vessels  and  army  were  ordered  to 
communicate  with  each  other  at  that  point,  on  the  supposition  that  it 
was  a  good  harbor,  and  would  be  a  capital  place  for  a  depot  of  supplies 
before  entering  the  great  desert.  But  Coronado's  report  effectually 
explodes  the  idea  of  its  having  been  found  such;  and  if  there  were  more 
proof  on  this  point  needed,  it  would  appear  in  the  fact  that  neither 
Alarcon,  who  commanded  the  fleet  and  passed  up  the  Colorado  River  in 
search  of  the  army,  nor  Melchior  Diaz,  who  explored  all  around  the 
head  of  the  gulf,  make  any  mention  of  having  seen  the  place,  which 
they  most  assuredly  would  have  done  had  they  passed  any  where  near  it. 

But  where  was  the  exact  location  of  Chichilticale  ?  In  my  opinion  it 
was  on  the  Rio  Gila  at  Casa  Grande,  in  latitude  33°  4'  21"  north,  and 
longitude  111°  45'  west  from  Greenwich,  and  the  following  are  my 
reasons  therefor: 

It  is  distinctly  stated  by  Castaneda  that  the  place  was  marked  by  a 
Casa  Grande,  which,  though  then  in  ruins  on  account  of  having  been 
destroyed  by  the  natives,  had  evidently  been  used  as  a  fortress ;  that  it  had 
been  built  of  red  earth,  and  was  evidently  the  work  of  a  civilized  people 
who  had  come  from  a  distance.J 

Now,  the  first  ruin  to  be  seen  on  the  Gila,  ascending  it  from  its  mouth, 
and  the  only  one  along  its  whole  course  which  bears  any  resemblance 
to  that  mentioned  by  Castafieda,  and  of  which  we  have  any  record,  is 
that  described  by  Father  Font,  who,  with  Father  Garces,  saw  it  in  1775, 


*  Iliiklnyt's  Voyages,  vol.  iii,  p.  448. 
t  Castaiieda's  Relations,  pp.  40,  161, 
efore  referred  to,  says  :  "  There  is  no  i 


tlbid. 

162.    Mr.  Morgan,  in  a  foot-note  to  his  paper 

before  referred  to,  says  :  "  There  is  no  ruin  on  the  Gila  at  the  present  time  that  answers 
the  above  description,"  and  seems  to  have  come  to  this  conclusion,  because  Captain  A. 
R.  Johnston,  United  States  Army,  in  his  journal,  (U.  S.  Ex.  Doc.  No.  41.  1-48,  p.  596,) 
says,  "The  house  was  built  of  a  sort  of  white  earth  and  pebbles,  probably  containing 
lime."  Emory  merely  says,  "The  walls  were  formed  of  layers  of  mud,"  (Thirtieth  Con- 
cress,  First  Session,  Ex.  Doc.  No.  7,  p.  82;)  and  Bartlctt  in  his  Personal  Narrative,  p. 
272,  informs  us  that  "  The  walls  arc  laid  with  large  square  blocks,  and  the  material  is 
the  mud  of  the  valley  mixed  with  gravel." 

Mr.  N.  II.  Hutton,  civil  engineer,  assistant  to  Lieutenant  Whipplo,  in  his  explorations 
for  the  Pacific  Railroad  in  1853-'54,  and  at  present  my  assistant,  assures  me  that  h<-  has 
seen  the  locality  and  the  rnius,  and  that  the  Casa  had  evidently  born  built  of  the  earth 
in  the,  vicinity,  which  is  of  a  reddish  color,  though  in  certain  retlections  of  the  same  the 
building  appeared  whitish,  on  account  of  the  pebbles  contained  in  the  mass.  Castaneda 
in  his  Relations,  p.  41,  says :  "Cette  maison,  construite  en  terre  rouge;"  and  p.  161, 
"La  terre  de  ces  pays  est  rouge."  In  addition,  what  more  natural  than  that 
Emory  and  Bartlctt,  finding  the  color  of  the  building  nothing  different  from  that  of  the 
soil  in  that  region,  should  tail  to  say  anything  about  it  f 


CORON ADO'S   MARCH.  19 

on  their  journey  to  Monterey  and  the  port  of  San  Francisco,  and  which 
same  ruin  was  subsequently  visited  and  described  by  Emory,  of  the  Corps 
of  Topographical  Engineers,  in  1847. 

Father  Font's  description  of  it  is  as  follows : 

"  On  the  3d  of  October,  1775,  the  commandant  ordered  us  to  halt,  in 
order  that  we  might  visit  the  Casa  Grande,  known  by  the  name  of  Monte- 
suma,  situated  one  league  from  the  Rio  Gila.  We  were  accompanied  by 
some  Indians,  and  by  the  governor  of  Uturituc,  who  related  to  us  on 
the  way  the  tradition  he  had  received  from  his  ancestors  about  this 
house,  some  of  the  particulars  of  which  are  doubtless  fabulous  and  others 
again  true. 

"  The  latitude  of  the  locality  we  found  by  an  observation  of  the  sun  to 
be  33J°. 

"  The  Casa  Grande,  or  palace  of  Montesuma,  must  have  been  built  five 
hundred  years  previously,  (in  the  thirteenth  century,)  if  we  are  to  believe 
the  accounts  given  by  the  Indians ;  for  it  appears  to  have  been  con 
structed  by  the  Mexicans  at  the  epoch  of  their  emigration  when  the 
devil,  conducting  them  through  different  countries,  led  them  to  the 
promised  land  of  Mexico.  The  house  is  seventy  feet  from  north  to  south, 
and  fifty  from  east  to  west.*  The  interior  walls  are  four  feet  in  thick 
ness  $  they  are  well  constructed ;  the  exterior  walls  are  six  feet  thick. 
The  edifice  is  constructed  of  earth,  in  blocks  of  different  thickness,  and 
has  three  stories.  We  found  no  traces  of  stairways ;  we  think  they 
must  have  been  burnt  when  the  Apaches  burnt  this  edifice."! 

Emory's  description,  evidently  of  this  same  building — for  the  old  maps 
place  Father  Font's  Casa  Grande  on  the  Kio  Gila,  just  above  the  Pirn  a 
village,  where  Emory  locates  it — is  as  follows :  "  About  the  time  of 
noon  halt,  a  large  pile  which  seemed  the  work  of  human  hands  was 
seen  to  the  left.  It  was  the  remains  of  a  three- story  mud-house  sixty 
feet  square,  pierced  for  doors  and  windows.  The  whole  interior  of  the 
house  had  been  burnt  out,  and  the  walls  much  defaced."! 

This  description,  though  not  precisely  the  same  as  that  of  Father 
Font,  yet  is  sufficiently  close,  with  the  identity  of  the  location,  as  before 
stated,  to  show  that  they  have  reference  to  the  same  building.  Now, 
Emory  by  astronomical  observation  found  the  latitude  of  his  camp  near 
this  locality  to  be  33°  4'  21"  north,  and  the  longitude  west  from  Green 
wich  111°  45'.  Father  Font,  as  before  stated,  determined  the  latitude 
to  be  33  J°;  but  as  Emory  had,  without  doubt,  far  superior  instruments, 
his  results  are  preferable. 

We  have  then,  as  we  think,  located  Chichilticale,  the  site  of  Casa 
Grande,  with  a  strong  probability  of  accuracy. 

On  Squier's  map  of  Coronado's  route,  accompanying  the  paper  on  this 
subject,  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Ethnological  Society,  (vol.  2,)  by 
Albert  Gallatin,  I  perceive  that  he  makes  Coronado  to  cross  the  Gila  at 
Casa  Grande,  but  places  the  latter  in  about  latitude  32°,  and  longitude 
110° ;  or  more  than  a  degree  too  far  south,  and  nearly  two  degrees  too 
far  to  the  east.  Now,  as  Juan  Jaramillo,  who  was  a  captain  in  Coro 
nado's  expedition,  in  his  report  says  the  general  direction  of  their  march 
from  Chichilticale  to  Cibola  was  northeast,§  a  line  drawn  from  Chichil- 

*  A  Spanish  foot  is  0.91319  of  an  English  foot.    (United  States  Ordnance  Manual.) 

t  Journal  of  Father  Font,  of  the  college  of  Santa  Cruz  of  Queretaro.  Appendix  VII, 
Casteneda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans'  Collections ;  see  also  Humboldt's  "  Essai  Poli- 
tkiue  Sur  la  Royaume  de  la  Nouvelle  Espagne,"  edition  of  1811,  pp.  36,  297,  298. 

i  Notes  of  a  military  reconnoissance  made  by  Lieutenant  Colonel  William  H.  Emory, 
Corps  of  Topographical  Engineers,  in  1846-' 47,  with  the  advance  guard  of  the  Army  of 
the  West,  p.  82. 

$  Juan  Jaramillo's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans'  Collections,  pp.  368,  369. 


20  COROXADO'S   MARCH. 

ticale  as  laid  down  011  Squier's  map  would  not  pass  through  or  near 
Zufri,  (identical  on  his  map  with  Cibola,)  as  it  ought  to  do,  but  more 
than  a  degree  totheeastof  it;  thus  showing  his  position  of  Chichilticale 
manifestly  erroneous. 

Again,  on  the  map  of  K.  n.  Kern,  accompanying  "  Schoolcraffs  History 
of  the  Indian  Tribes  of  North  America,"  he  places  Chichilticale  as  much 
a>  a  degree  of  latitude  south  of  the  Gila  and  in  longitude  109°.  Here 
again  a  line  in  a  northeast  direction  from  Chichilticale  would  not  pass, 
as  it  should,  through  or  near  Zufii.  (identical,  as  Kern  thinks,  with  Ci 
bola,)  but  more  thai!  two  degrees  to  the  eastward  of  it ;  which  also  shows 
his  position  of  Chichilticale  very  considerably  out  of  the  way. 


The  next  and  most  important  inquiry  is  the  exact  locality  of  the  seven 
cities  of  Cibola.  Gallatin,  Squier,  YVhipple,  Pro  lessor  Turner,  and 
Kern,  have  contended  for  Zufii  and  its  vicinity.  Emory  and  Abert,  on 
the  contrary,  have  conjectured  that  Cibolletta,  Moquino,  Pojnati.  Covero, 
Aeoma,  Laguna,  and  Poblacon,  a  group  of  villages  some  ninety  miles  to 
the  eastward  of  Zuni,  furnish  the  site  of  the  seven  cities ;  and  31r.  Mor 
gan,  as  I  have  before  remarked,  in  the  Xorth  American  1'eview  for 
April,  1869,  has  advanced  the  idea  that  the  ruins  on  the  Chaco,  lying 
about  one  hundred  miles  to  the  northeast  of  Zuni,  more  completely 
satisfy  all  the  conditions  of  the  problem  which  the  accounts  of  Coron- 
ado's  journey,  by  Castaiieda  and  others,  have  imposed  on  its  solution. 
To  my  mind,  however,  Zuni  and  vicinity  present  the  strongest  claims 
to  being  considered  the  site  of  the  renowned  cities,  and  the  following 
are  my  reasons  therefor : 

It  seems  that  from  Chichilticale  to  Cibola,  the  direction  of  Corouado's 
route,  according  to  Jaramillo,  as  before  remarked,  was  generally  north 
east  ;  and  from  Coronations  report  1  extract  in  relation  to  it  as  follows. 
He  is  speaking  of  what  occurred  after  leaving  Chichilticale  : 

"I  entered  the  confines  of  the  desert,  on  Saint  Jobu's  day  eve,  and  to 
refresh  our  former  travels  we  found  no  grass,  but  worser  way  of  moun 
tains  and  bad  passages  where  we  had  passed  already;  and  the  horses 
being  tired  were  greatly  molested  therewith  ;  but  alter  we  had  passed 
these  thirty  leagues,  we  found  fresh  rivers  and  grasses  like  that  of  Cas 
tile,  &c. ;  and  there  was  flax,  but  chiefly  near  the  banks  of  a  certain 
river,  which,  therefore,  was  called  El  Kio  del  Lino,  that  is  to  say,  the 
IMvcr  of  Flax  ;  we  found  no  Indians  at  all  for  a  day's  travel,  but  a  tier- 
ward  four  Indians  came  out  unto  us  in  peaceable  manner,  saying  that 
they  were  sent  over  to  that  desert  place  to  signify  unto  us  that  we  were 
welcome."  * 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  Castaneda  says  that  in  about  fifteen  days 
from  Chichilticale  "  they  arrived  within  eight  leagues  of  Cibola,  upon 
the  banks  of  a  river  tiiey  called  the  Vermejo,  on  account  of  its  red 
color  ;Mt  and  Jaramillo  remarks  that  in  approaching  Cibola  "  always  in 
the  same  direction,  that  is  to  say,  toward  the  northeast,  they  came  to  a 
river  which  they  called  the  Vermejo  ;  that  here  they  met  one  or  two  In 
dians,  who  afterwards  they  ivcogni/ed  as  belonging  to  the  first  village 
of  Cibola  ;  and  that  they  reached  this  village  in  two  days  from  when 
they  had  first  met  them.vt 

iSow  let  any  one  consult  the  accompanying  map,  reduced  from  the 
latest  map  issued  by  the  Engineer  liureau  at  Washington,  and  he  will 

*Hakluyt's  Voyuj^vs,  vol.  iii,  p.  -Hi'. 
tCastafi.-.hfs  IMuiinns.  Teniaux  Coinpans,  p.  41. 
t  Jaruimllo's  Kelatioiis,  Teriiaux  Coiupaus,  p.  oU'J. 


CORONADO'S   MARCH.  21 

see  that  Coronado's  march  from  Chichilticale,  or  Casa  Grande,  must 
have  been  very  nearly  coincident  with  the  route  there  laid  down,  to  wit : 
in  a  northeasterly  direction  for  the  first  thirty  leagues,  over  the  rough 
Final  and  Mogollon  Mountains  ;  and  then  getting  on  the  tributaries  of 
the  Rio  del  Lino,  or  Flax  Kiver,  where  he  found  "  fresh  water  and  grasses," 
he  followed  up  the  Verinejo,  or  Colorado  Eiver,  to  Cibola,  or  Zuni  of  the 
present  day  and  its  vicinity,  where  he  found  the  other  six  cities.  The 
distance  by  such  route,  between  Chichilticale  and  Zuiii,  would  be  about 
270  miles,  or  require  a  journey  of  17  days,  (about  16  miles  a  day,)  the 
time  it  took  Coronado  to  accomplish  the  distance  ;*  and  this  agrees  quite 
exactly  with  the  distance,  80  leagues,  as  given  by  Castaneda  In  another 
place,  t 

But  there  are  other  good  reasons  for  this  Belief.  At  Zuiii  and  its 
vicinity,  within  a  distance  of  about  16  miles,  and  on  the  banks  of  the 
Verinejo,  or  Little  Colorado  Eiver,  there  are  the  ruins  of  as  many  as  six 
pueblos,  all  showing  that  they  were  once. built  of  stone;  and,  with  the 
present  Zuni,  doubtless  they  constituted  the  "  seven  cities"  which,  ac 
cording  to  Coronado,  were  all  built  "within  four  leagues  together ,"f 
and  according  to  Castafieda  were  "situated  in  a  very  narrow  valley  be 
tween  des  Montagues  Escarpees^  which  may  have  been  intended  to 
mean  escarped  mesas ,  or  table  lands,  just  as  close  in  the  valley  of  the 
Little  Colorado  or  Eio  de  Zuiii. 

In  my  report  to  the  Chief  of  Topographical  Engineers  of  my  recon- 
noissance  made  in  the  Navajo  country  in  1848,  I  described  Zuiii  as  fol 
lows  :  "  The  pueblo  of  Zuiii,  when  first  seen  about  three  miles  off,  appeared 
like  a  low  ridge  of  brownish  rocks,  not  a  tree  being  visible  to  relieve 
the  nakedness  of  its  appearance.  It  is  a  pueblo  or  Indian  town,  situ 
ated  on  the  Eio  de  Zuni.  This  river  at  the  town  has  a  bed  of  about  150 
yards  wide.  The  stream,  however,  at  the  time  we  saw  it,  only  showed  a 
breadth  of  about  6  feet  and  a  depth  of  a  few  inches.  It  is  represented 
as  running  into  the  Colorado  of  the  West.  The  town,  like  Santo  Do 
mingo,  is  built  terrace-Shaped,  each  story — of  which  there  are  generally 
three — as  you  ascend  being  smaller  laterally,  so  that  one  story  answers, 
in  fact,  for  the  platform  of  the  one  above  it.  It,  however,  is  far  more 
compact  than  Santo  Domingo,  its  streets  being  narrow,  and  in  places 
presenting  the  appearance  of  tunnels  or  covered  ways,  on  account  of 
the  houses  extending  at  these  places  over  them.*'|| 

Lieutenant  A.  W.  Whipple,  Corps  Topographical  Engineers,  visited 
the  ruins  of  old  Zuiii  in  1853-'o4,  and  in  his  report  to  the  War  Depart 
ment  thus  describes  the  place :  "  We  took  a  trail  and  proceeded  two 
miles  south  to  a  deep  canon,  where  were  springs  of  water.  Thence  by 
a  zigzag  course  we  led  our  mules  up  the  first  bench  of  ascent.  At  vari 
ous  points  of  the  ascent,  where  a  projecting  rock  permitted,  were  barri 
cades  of  stone  walls,  from  which,  the  old  man  (his  guide)  told  us,  they 
had  hurled  rocks  upon  the  invading  Spaniards.  Having  ascended, 
according  to  our  estimate,  1,000  feet,  we  found  ourselves  upon  a  level 
surface  covered  with  thick  cedars.  The  top  of  the  mesa  was  of  an  irregu 
lar  figure  a  mile  in  width,  and  bounded  on  all  sides  by  perpendicular 
cliffs.  Three  times  we  crossed  it,  searching  in  vain  for  the  trace  of  a 

*  Castaneda's  Relations,  pp.  41,  42. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  188. 

t  Coronado's  Relations,  Hakluyt,  vol.  iii,  p.  451. 

$  Castaiieda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  164. 

||  "Journal  of  a  military  reconnoissance  from  Santa  F<5,  New  Mexico,  to  the  Navajo 
country,  made  by  Lieutenant  J.  H.  Simpson,  Corps  of  Topographical  Engineers,  in 
1849,"  United  States  Senate  Ex.  Doc.  No.  64,  31st  Congress,  1st  session,  1850 ;  also,  Lip- 
pincott,  Grainbo  &  Co.,  Philadelphia,  1852,  pp.  89  and  90. 


CORONADO'S   MARCH. 

ruin.  But  tlie  guide  hurried  us  on  half  a  mile  further,  when  appeared 
the  ruins  of  a  city  indeed.  Crumbling  walls  from  2  to  1'2  feet  high  were 
crowded  together  in  confused  heaps  over  several  acres  of  ground.  Upon 
examining  the  pueblo  we  found  that  the  standing  walls  rested  upon 
ruins  of  greater  antiquity.  The  primitive  masonry,  as  well  as  we  could 
judge,  must  have  been  about  6  feet  thiek.  The  more  recent  was  not 
more  than  a  foot,  but  the  small  sandstone  blocks  had  been  laid  in  mud 
inortar  with  considerable  care."* 

Now  I  take  it  that  old  Zufii  was  one  of  the  seven  towns  of  Cibola, 
called  by  Corouado  "  Grenada,  because  it  was  somewhat  like  to  it;"t  and 
the  narrow  winding  icay,  ascending  which  Coronado  was  knocked  down 
by  stones  hurled  upon  him  by  the  defenders,}  was  in  all  probability  the 
very  zigzag  approach  mentioned  by  Whipple,  and  which  he  found  so 
difficult  in  his  ascent  to  the  ruins. 

The  other  six  towns  were  doubtless  Zufii  of  the  present  day,  and  those 
whose  ruins  are  to  be  found  still  further  up  the  valley,  showing  they  had 
been  stone  structures,  and  to  which  I  refer  in  my  report  before  referred 
to,  as  follows :  "  Within  a  few  yards  of  us  are  several  heaps  of  pueblo 
ruins.  Two  of  them,  on  examination,  I  found  to  be  of  elliptical  shape 
and  approximating  1,000  feet  in  circuit.  The  buildings  seem  to  have 
been  chiefly  built  on  the  periphery  of  an  ellipse,  having  a  large  interior 
court ;  but  their  style  and  the  details  of  their  construction,  except  that 
they  were  built  of  stone  and  mud  mortar,  are  not  distinguishable  in  the 
general  mass.  The  areas  of  each  are  now  so  overgrown  with  bushes  and 
so  much  commingled  with  mother  earth  as,  except  on  critical  examina 
tion,  to  be  scarcely  distinguishable  from  natural  mounds.  The  usual 
quantum  of  pottery  lies  scattered  around.  The  governor  of  Zuni,  who 
is  again  on  a  visit  to  us,  informs  us  that  the  ruins  I  have  just  described, 
as  also  those  seen  a  couple  of  miles  back,  are  the  ruins  of  pueblos  which 
his  people  formerly  inhabited."§ 

There  are  other  circumstances  of  relative  position  of  places  which 
point  most  indubitably  to  the  same  conclusion;  as  follows :  Castaueda 
repeatedly  states  that  Cibola  was  the  first  inhabited  province  they  met 
going  north  from  Chichilticale  after  they  crossed  the  desert,  and  the  last 
they  left  before  entering  the  desert  on  their  return  to  Mexico.  Again. 
the  present  relations  to  each  other  of  Zuili  and  the  Moqui  Pueblos,  and 
also  of  Acoma,  perched  on  a  mesa  height,  in  regard  to  courses  and  dis 
tances  tally  sufficiently  near  with  the  positions  of  Tnsayan  and  Acuco, 
as  given  by  Castaneda,  namely,  the  former  northwest  25  leagues  and  the 
latter  eastwardly  five  days7  journey  from  Cibola, ||  as  to  make  it  exceed 
ingly  probable  that  they  refer  to  the  same  localities.^  Again,  Castanedo, 

*  Pacific  R.  R.  Reports,  vol.  iii,  pp.  68,  69. 

t  Coronado's  Relation,  Hakluyt,  vol.  iii,  p.  451. 

t  "dependant  il  fallait  s'emparer  do  Cibola  co  qui  n'dtait  pas  chose  facile,  car  le 
cliemin  qni  y  conduissat  6tait  etroit  et  tortnenx.  Le  Ge'ne'ral  fut  renverse  d'un  coup 
de  pierre  en  montant  a  1'assaut,"  &c.  Castaneda's  Eel.,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  43. 

§  Simpson's  Journal,  p.  97. 

jj  Castaueda's  Relations,  Teruaux  Compans,  pp.  58,  07,  68,  69,  70,  165. 

1IMr.  Sqnier,  in  his  article  on  the  "Ancient  Monuments,  »V-c..  in  NYw  Mexico  and  Cal 
ifornia."  in  American  Review  for  November.  l-K  oives  the  position  of  Tusaynn  from 
Cibola,  lyoth  northeast  and  northwest  from  ('Simla,  and  on  his  map  accompanying  Mr. 
Albert  Gallatin's  Essay,  in  the  Transactions  of  the  American  Ethnological  Society,  vol. 
ii.  he  has  placed  it  in  a  northeast  direction.  The  proper  direction  of  Tnsayan  with 
regard  to  Cibola  is  northwest.  (See  Castaneda's  Relations,  Ternanx  Compans.  p.  165.) 
II. -sides  Cardenas,  on  his  way  lo  the  Ki»  del  Tizon,  (Colorado.)  passed  through  Tnsayan 
fiom  Cibola,  which  makes  it  all  very  natural  if'  Tnsayan  was  northwest  from  Cibola, 
but  would  not  be  so  if  it  was  in  a  northeast  direction,  as  laid  down  on  Mr.  Sqnier's 
map. 


CORON  ADO'S   MARCH.  23 

describing  the  valley  in  which  the  province  of  Cibola  was  situated, 
says,  "Oest  une  valle'e  tre's-etroite  entre  des  montagnes  escarpees,"* 
which  is  an  exact  description  of  the  valley  of  the  Rio  de  Zuni,  confined 
between  the  walls  of  inclosing  inesas.  Again,  Jaramillo  says  "  this  first 
village  of  Cibola  is  exposed  a  little  towards  the  northeast,  and  to  the 
northwest  in  about  five  days'  journey  is  a  province  of  seven  villages 
called  Tusayan,t  all  of  which  exactly  accords  with  the  exposed  position 
to  the  northeast  of  old  Zulu  and  correctly  describes  the  location  of  the 
Moqui  villages. 

But  there  is  some  historical  evidence  upon  this  point  which  I  consider 
irrefragable,  and  which  certainly  makes  Zuni  and  Cibola  identical  places. 

Referring  to  the  relation  of  a  notable  journey  made  by  Antonio  de 
Espejo  to  New  Mexico,  iri  1583,  to  be  found  in  Hakluyt's  Voyages,  vol. 
iii,  I  read  as  follows :  "Antonio  de  Espejo  also  visited  Acorna,  situated 
upon  a  high  rock  which  was  about  50  paces  high,  having  no  other  en 
trance  but  by  a  ladder  or  pair  of  stairs  hewn  into  the  same  rock,  whereat 
our  people  marveled  not  a  little. 

6i  Twenty-five  leagues  from  hence,  toward  the  west,  they  came  to  a 
certain  province  called  by  the  inhabitants  themselves  Zuni,  and  by  the 
Spaniards  Cibola,  containing  a  great  number  of  Indians,  in  which  pro 
vince  Francisco  Vasquez  de  Coronaclo  had  been,  and  had  erected  many 
crosses  and  other  tokens  of  Christianity,  which  remained  as  yet  stand 
ing.  Here  also  they  found  three  Indian  Christians  who  had  remained 
there  ever  since  the  said  journey,  whose  names  were  Andrew  de  Culia- 
can,  Gaspar  de  Mexico,  and  Antonio  de  Guadalajara,  who  had  about 
forgotten  their  language,  but  could  speak  the  country  speech  very  well ; 
howbeit  after  some  small  conference  with  our  men  they  easily  under 
stood  one  another." 

$ow  turning  to  Castaneda's  Relations,  where  he  gives  an  account  of 
Coronado's  leaving  the  country  for  Mexico,  I  find  his  language  as  fol 
lows  :  "  When  the  army  arrived  at  Cibola  it  rested  for  a  while  to  pre 
pare  itself  for  entering  the  desert,  for  it  is  the  last  point  inhabited.  We 
left  the  country  entirely  peaceful ;  there  were  some  Indians  from  Mexico 
who  had  accompanied  us,  who  remained  there  and  established  them 
selves,  (il  y  ent  meme  quelques  Indiens  clu  Mexique  qui  nous  avaieni  ac- 
compagnes,  qui  y  resterent  et  s'y  etablirent.")f 

Thus  it  would  seem  that  the  two  accounts  of  Espejo  and  Castaneda 
correspond  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  leave  the  slightest  doubt  that 
Zuni  of  the  present  day  is  the  Cibola  of  old.  Coronado  left  three  of 
his  men  at  Cibola,  who  were  found  living  there  by  Espejo  and  his  party 
forty  years  afterwards ;  they  had  nearly  forgotten  their  original  lan 
guage,  but  yet,  after  awhile,  managed  to  converse  with  some  of  Espejo's 
men.  What  more  natural,  and,  indeed,  what  could  have  been  a  more 
interesting  topic  than  the  adventures  of  these  men ;  how  they  got  there, 
and  whether  Zuni  was  veritably  the  far-famed  Cibola  that  forty  years 
previously  had  excited  the  attention  of  the  governments  of  New  and 
Old  Spain.  Espejo,  under  the  above  circumstances,  reporting  that  the 
Spaniards  called  Zuni  Cibola,  certainly  could  not  have  meant  anything 
else  than  that  he  believed  it  veritably  such.  I  have  been  thus  particu 
lar  with  regard  to  this  testimony,  for  the  reason  that  Mr.  Morgan,  in  his 
essay  already  referred  to,  while  he  recognizes  the  historical  fact  of  Zuni 
having  been  called  by  the  Spaniards,  according  to  Espejo's  Relations, 
Cibola,  in  1583,  yet  advances  the  idea  that  after  all  Espejo  probably 

*  Castaneda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  164. 
t  Jaramillo's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  370. 
iCastaueda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  217. 


CORONADO'S   MARCH. 

only  meant  to  express  that  they  conjectured  the  places  to  have  been 
identical 

It  seems  tome  that  \vhat  I  have  advanced  shows  most  conclusively 
that  Cibola  and  Zufii  are  identical  localities,  and  nothing  could  be  said 
which  could  make  it  more  certain;  but  as  corroborative  I  will  state  that  I 
have  seen  in  the  excellent  library  of  the  Peabody  Institute  of  Baltimore 
an  atlas  entitled  "The  American  Atlas,  or  a  Geographical  Description 
of  the  whole  Continent  of  America,  by  Mr.  Thomas  Jeffreys,  Geogra 
pher,  published  in  London  in  1773."  On  map  No.  o  of  this  atlas,  Zuni 
and  Cibola  are  laid  down  as  synonymous  names,  and  the  locality  they 
express  is  precisely  that  of  Zuni  of  the  present  day.*  Again,  on  a. 
u  Carte  coutenant  le  Koyaume  du  Mexique  et  La  Floride,"  in  the  %;  Atlas 
Historique  par  Mr.  C  *  *  *  avec  des  dissertations  sur  1'ilistoire  de 
chaque  etat  par  Mr.  Guendeville,"  tome  vi,  second  edition,  published 
in  Amsterdam,  1732,  I  find  Zuni  and  Cibola  laid  down  as  synonymous. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  proper  to  observe  that  the  claims  of  Ci- 
boletta,  Moquino,  Poquate,  Covero,  Acomo,  Laguna,  Poblaeon,  as  con 
jectured  by  Emory  and  Abert  to  be  regarded  as  the  seven  cities  of 
Cibola,  are  rendered  null  by  the  hi^orical  fact  mentioned  by  Castafieda, 
and  also  by  Jaramillo,  that  the  latter  were  situated  on  the  Kin  Yermejo, 
(Little  Colorado,)  a  tributary  of  the  Southern  Ocean  ;t  and  also,  by  the 
circumstance  of  the  army,  on  its  march  from  Cibola  to  Tiguex,  finding 
Acuco  (Acoma)  five  days7  journey  to  the  eastward  of  Cibola,  a  circum 
stance  which  could  not  have  taken  place  if  Acuco  (Acoma)  were  one  of 
the  seven  towns  of  Cibola.  Besides,  Castafieda,  in  enumerating  the 
•villages  dispersed  in  the  country,  expressly  states  that  "  Cibola  is  the 
first  province  ;  it  contains  seven  villages ;  Tusayan,  seven;  the  rock  of 
Acuco,  one,  &c.,J  which  certainly  shows  that  Cibola  and  Acuco  were 
separate  and  district  provinces. 

Again,  I  cannot  see  that  the  ruins  of  the  Chaco,  which,  according  to 
iny  explorations  and  reading  are  probably,  on  account  of  their  extent 
and  character,  the  most  remarkable  yet  discovered  in  this  country,  have 
any  just  claims,  as  advanced  by  Mr.  Morgan,  to  be  regarded  as  the  seven 
cities  of  Cibola  ;§  first,  for  the  reason  that  they  are  not,  as  required  by 
historical  fact,  situated  on  the  Rio  Vermejo,  (Little  Colorado,)  or  tribu 
tary  of  the  Rio  del  Lino  or  Flax  Kiver;  second,  they  are  not  so  situated 
with  regard  to  the  desert  passed  over  by  Coroiiado,  between  Chichilticale 
and  Cibola,  as  to  make  the  statement  of  Castafieda  pertinent,  to  wit, 

*  On  this  atlas  is  indorsed, "  Presented  to  the  Peabody  Institute  l>y  tin  1  {<.n.  Jolm  P. 
Kennedy,  April  1,  1864.  By  this  map  the  great  dispute  between  Daniel  Webster  and 
Lord  Ashburton  (relating  doubtless  to  the  northeastern  boundary)  was  settled,  particu 
larly  by  map  No.  5." 

t"  All  the  streams  we  met,  whether  rivulet  or  river,  as  far  as  that  of  Cibola,  and  I 
believe  even  one  or  two  days' journey  beyond  that  place,  How  in  the  dim-turn  of  tin- 
South  Sea,  (Mer  du  Sud,)  meaning  the  Pacific  Ocean;"  further  on  they  llow  to  the 
North  Sen,  (Mer  du  Nord,)  meaning  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Jarainillo's  Relations,  Tcrnaux 
Compans,  p.  370. 

t  Castaneda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  pp.  181,  182. 

$Mr.  Morgan,  in  his  essay  before  referred  to,  having  already  made  large  extracts 
from  my  report  to  the  Government  on  these  ruins,  I  deem  it  tmnecesuffy  to  say  any 
thing  further  in  relation  to  them  than  to  refer  tin-  reader  for  a  more  detailed  aeeonnt 
to  >aid  report.  It  is  interesting,  however,  in  this  connection,  to  present  the  following 
extract  from  Humboldt's  I-Nsai  sur  ]<•  K'nyaunic  de  la  Xouvelle  Kspagne,  page  :M.">.  which 
in  all  probability  refers  to  these  very  ruins :  "The  Indian  traditions  inform  us  that 
sonic  twenty  leagues  to  the  north  of  Moqui.  near  the  enihouehureof  the  river  /cjuannes, 
.a  river  of  the  Navajos,  was  the  lirst  resting  place  (dcmcitn1}  of  the  A/tccs  alter  their 
sortie  from  At  /.I  an."  Again,  on  his  map  accompanying  his  Kssay,  is  the  following: 
'•Premiere  dcmeure  des  'A/tc.|Ues  sortc's  d'At/lan  en  11(50,  tradition  in  certuinc,"  in  lon 
gitude  about  m-30",  latitude  37°. 


CORONADO'S   MAKCH.  25 

that  Cibola  was  the  first  village  to  be  met  after  passing  the  desert,  arid. 
the  last  on  leaving  the  peopled  country  to  enter  the  desert  ;  third,  the 
Moqui  villages  (undoubtedly  Tusayan)  do  not  lie  to  the  northwest  from 
the  ruins  on  the  Chaco,  as  they  should  do  if  these  ruins  were  Cibola,  but 
to  the  south  of  west;  and  fourth,  the  route  of  Coronado's  army  eastward 
from  there  to  Cicuy<§,  by  the  way  of  Acuco,  (Acoma,)  would  have  been 
very  much  and  unnecessarily  out  of  the  proper  direction. 

Mr.  Morgan  mentions  the  fact  stated  by  Coronado,  that  it  was  eight 
days'  journey  from  Cibola  to  the  buffalo  range.  This,  he  thinks,  could 
very  well  have  taken  place  on  the  hypothesis  of  the  Chaco  ruins  having 
been  Cibola,  but  not  on  the  supposition  of  Zuni.  But  the  distance  of 
Zuiii  to  the  buffalo  range  east  of  the  Rio  Pecos  is  only  about  230  miles, 
which  certainly  could  have  been  reached  in  eight  days,  allowing  the 
journey  he  does  of  30  miles  per  day. 

But  to  proceed  with  the  principal  points  of  Coronado's  route  eastward 
from  Cibola.  I  believe  that  all  authorities  who  have  written  on  the 
subject  concur  in  the  view  that  the  Ipueblo  of  Acoma,  or  Hak-koo-kee- 
ah,  as  it  is  now  called  in  the  Zuni  language,  is  the  Acuco  of  Colorado.* 

The  singular  coincidence  of  the  names,  as  well  as  the  striking  resem 
blance  of  the  two  places  as  described  by  Castaneda  and  Abert,  which 
cannot  be  predicated  of  any  other  place  in  New  Mexico,  together  with 
the  proper  relation  of  Acoma  to  Zuni  (Cibola)  and  Tiguex  in  distance 
and  direction,  all  show  that  they  are  identical,  t 


The  next  province  Coronado  entered  was  that  of  Tiguex.  Mr.  Gallatin 
has  located  it  on  the  Eio  Puerco.  His  language  relating  to  it  is  as  fol 
lows:  a  Having  compared  those  several  accounts  (of  Castaneda  and 
Jaramillo)  with  Lieutenant  Abert's  map  and  with  that  of  Mr.  Gregg,  it 

*  Lieutenant  Colonel  J.  H.  Eaton,  United  States  Army,  writing  on  this  subject,  re 
marks:  "In  a  conversation  with  a  very  intelligent  Zuni  Indian  I  learned  that  the 
Pueblo  of  Acoma  is  called  in  the  Zuni  tongue  Hak-koo-kee-ah,  (Acuco,)  and  this  name 
was  given  to  mo  without  any  previous  question  which  would  serve  to  give  him  an  idea 
of  this  old  Spanish  name.  Does  not  this,  therefore,  seem  to  give  color  to  the  hypothesis 
that  Coronado's  army  passed  by  or  near  to  the  present  Pueblo  of  Zuiii,  and  that  it  was 
their  Cibola,  or  one  of  the  seven  cities  of  Cibola."  (Schoolcraft's  History  of  the  Indian 
Tribes  of  the  United  States,  part  iv,  p.  220.) 

t  The  following  graphic  description  of  Acoma  is  from  Abert  :  "  After  a  journey  of  15 
miles  we  arrived  at  Acoma.  High  on  a  lofty  rock  of  sandstone,  such  as  I  have  de 
scribed,  sits  the  city  of  Acoma.  On  the  northern  side  of  the  rock  the  rude  boreal  blasts 
have  heaped  up  the  sand  so  as  to  form  a  practical  ascent  for  some  distance  ;  the  rest  of 
the  way  is  through  solid  rock.  At  one  place  a  singular  opening  .or  narrow  way  is 
formed  between  a  huge,  square  tower  of  rock  and  the  perpendicular  face  of  the  cliff. 
Then  the  road  winds  round  like  a  spiral  stairway;  and  the  Indians  have,  in  some  way, 
fixed  logs  of  wood  in  the  rock,  radiating  from  a  vertical  axis,  like  steps.  These  afford 
foothold  to  man  and  beast  in  clambering  up. 

"We  were  constantly  meeting  and  passing  Indians,  who  had  their  'burros'  laden 
with  peaches.  At  last  we  reached  the  top  of  the  rock,  which  was  nearly  level,  and  con 
tains  about  sixty  acres.  Here  we  saw  a  large  church,  and  several  continuous  blocks  of 
buildings,  containing  sixty  or  seventy  houses  in  each  block.  (The  wall  at  the  side  that 
faced  outward  was  unbroken,  and  had  no  windows  until  near  the  top.  The  houses 
were  three  stories  high.)  In  front,  each  story  retreated  back  as  it  ascended,  so  as  to 
leave  a  platform  along  the  whole  front  of  the  story.  These  platforms  are  guarded  by 
parapet  walls  about  three  feet  high.  In  order  to  gain  admittance  you  ascend  to  the 
second  story  by  means  of  ladders.  The  next  story  is  gained  by  the  same  means  ;  but- 
to  reach  the  '  azotia,'  or  roof,  the  partition  walls  on  the  platform  that  separates  the 
quarters  of  different  families  have  been  formed  into  steps.  This  makes  quite  a  narrow 
staircase,  as  the  walls  are  not  more  than  one  foot  in  width."  (Report  of  Lieutenant  J. 
W.  Abert,  Corps  Topographical  Engineers,  of  his  examination  of  New  Mexico  in  the 
years  1846-'47,  Ex.  Doc.  41,  30th  Congress,  1st  session,  pp.  470,  471.) 


26  CORON ADO'S  MARCH. 

appears  to  me  probable  that  the  Tiguex  country  lay,  not  on  the  main 
Kio  Norte,  but  on  its  tributary,  the  Uio  Puerco  and  its  branches,  and 
that  the  river  which  the  Spaniards  called  Cicuye",  and  on  which  they 
were  obliged  to  build  a  bridge,  was  the  main  Kio  del  Norte."* 

Mr.  W.  H.  Davis,  author  of  UE1  Gringo;  or  New  Mexico  and  her 
People,"  published  in  1853,  takes  the  same  view. 

Mr.  Squier  believes  the  Kio  de  Tiguex  to  have  been  the  Kio  Grande, 
and  the  Kio  de  Cicuye  the  Pecos,  but  locates  Tiguex  on  the  Kio  Grande, 
above  the  mouth  of  the  Puerco.  Messrs.  Kern  and  Morgan  take  the  same 
view. 

According  to  my  investigations  I  believe  the  Kio  Tiguex  to  have  been 
the  Kio  Grande,  and  the  Rio  deCicuy6  the  KioPecos;  but  while  I  am 
willing  to  admit  there  are  some  grounds  for  the  hypothesis  that  Tiguex 
was  located  on  the  Kio  Grande  above  the  mouth  of  the  Puerco,  yet  I 
think  there  are  still  stronger  grounds  for  the  belief  that  it  was  situated 
on  the  Kio  Grande  beloic  that  river. 

Castaiieda  says,  "  Three  days'  journey  from  Acuco  ( Acoma)  Alvarado 
and  his  army  arrived  in'  a  province  which  was  called  Tiguex.vt 

Again,  "  The  province  of  Tignex  contains  twelve  villages,  situated  on 
the  banks  of  a  great  river  in  a  valley  about  two  leagues  broad.  It  is 
bounded  on  the  west  by  some  mountains,  which  are  very  high  and  cov 
ered  with  snow.  Four  villages  are  built  at  the  foot  of  these  mountains 
and  three  others  upon  the  heights."^ 

Now,  as  Coronado  and  his  army  marched  eastward  §  from  Acuco, 
(Acoma,)  and  they  accomplished  the  distance  in  a  three  days' journey 
and  then  came  to  a  large  river,  on  the  banks  of  which  was  situated  the 
province  of  Tiguex,  it  is  clear  that  as  the  Kio  Grande  is  the  first  large 
river  to  be  met  eastward  from  Acuco  (Acoma)  at  a  distance  varying 
from  sixty  to  eighty  miles,  depending  on  the  route  taken,  this  was  the 
great  river  referred  to,  or  the  Kio  de  Tiguex. 

The  idea  of  Mr.  Gallatin  and  Mr.  Davis  that  the  Puerco  was  this  river 
is,  I  think,  entirely  untenable,  for  the  reason  that  this  river  in  its  best 
stagfe  is  only  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  long,  and  frequently, 
as  I  myself  have  observed,  so  dry  that  its  existence  could  only  be  in 
ferred  from  its  dry  bed  and  the  occasional  pools  of  water  to  be  met 
along  its  track.  It  certainly,  then,  could  not  with  any  propriety  be 
called  a  great  river,  as  the  Kio  de  Tiguex  was  represented  to  be. 

In  addition,  we  learn  that  the  guides  who  conducted  the  army  back 
to  Cicuye,  on  its  return  from  its  search  after  Quivira,  declared  that  the 
Kio  de  Cicuye'  threw  itself  into  the  Kio  de  Tiguex  more  than  twenty 
days'  journey  (or  over  four  hundred  miles)  below  where  they  struck  it;"j| 
which  would  have  been  an  absurdity  if  the  Tiguex  were  the  trifling*  Kio 
Puerco,  and  the  Cicuye  the  Kio  Grande,  as  Mr.  Gallatin  supposed ;  but 
which  is  all  very  plain  on  the  hypothesis  that  the  Tiguex  was  the  Kio 
Grande,  and  the  Cicuye*  the  Pecos. 

But  where  was  the  exact  location  of  the  province  of  Tiguex? 

It  was  certainly  belowILernez  and  Quirix,  (San  Felipe,^})  for  the  chron- 

*  Transactions  American  Ethnological  Society,  vol.  2,  p.  73. 

t  Castafieda's  Relations,  Ternaux  C'onipans,  p.  71. 

t  Castftfieda'fl  Relations,  Teruaux  Compans,  pp.  1G7,  163. 

$  Ibid,  p.  G7. 

||  Castaurdn':*  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  135. 

IT  On  the  old  maps,  as  also  on  Humholdt's,  illustrating  his  "  Nouvelle  Hispagne,"  I 
notice  the  pueblo  of  Sau  Felipe  is  laid  down  as  "  S.  Felipe  di  inch  I  am  in 

formed  is  its  name  at  this  day.  Indrrd.  (Jiv^-.  Speaking  of  Certain  pnrblos  iu  Now 
Mexico,  says,  "those  of  Cochiti,  Santo  Domingo,  San  Felipe,  and  pnhap.s  Sandia.  s^ak 
the  same  tOIlgue,  though  they  seem  formerly  to  have  been  distinguished  as  Queues  " 
(Commerce  of  the  Prairies,  2ii  edition,  vol.  i,  p. 


CORON AD07S  MARCH.  27 

icier  states  that  farther  to  the  north  (from  Tiguex)  is  the  province  of 
Quirix,  which  contains  seven  villages ;  seven  leagues  to  the  northwest 
(which  may  mean  from  Quirix  or  Tiguex)  that  of  Heinez,  which  con 
tains  the  same  number,  &c. ;  *  the  text  says,  "  nord-est,"  but  this  is 
evidently  a  mistake,  as  the  oldest  maps  extant  place  Hernez  where  it  is 
now  situated,  on  the  Eio  de  Heinez,  to  the  west  of  the  Bio  Grande. 

The  foregoing  would  seem  to  show  conclusively  that  Tiguex  was  sit 
uated  below  Quirix,  and  possibly,  under  one  of  the  constructions  given 
above,  only  seven  leagues  or  twenty-four  miles  below  Hemez,  which 
would  place  it  on  the  Eio  Grande  just  about  the  mouth  of  the  Eio  de 
Hemez,  or  about  80  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  Puerco,  where  the 
authorities  above  given  have  placed  it.  But  yet  the  extract  before 
given  from  Castaneda  expressly  states  also  that  the  "Province  of  Tig 
uex  was  situated  upon  the  banks  of  a  great  river  (Eio  de  Tiguex)  in  a 
valley  about  two  leagues  broad,  and  bounded  on  its  west  by  some  very 
high,  snowy  mountains,"  &c.  Now,  the  only  locality  which  will  answer 
this  description  is  that  part  of  the  valley  of  the  Eio  Grande  bounded  on 
its  west  by  the  Socorro  Mountains,  situated  just  below  the  mouth  of  the 
Puerco.  These  are  the  first  mountains  to  be  met  in  descending  the  river 
from  Santo  Domingo,  or  from  even  above  that  pueblo,  (all  the  intervening 
heights  being  merely  table-lands  and  therefore  not  so  elevated  as  to  be 
termed  snowy,)  and  they  fix  the  locality,  in  my  judgment,  as  I  have 
before  stated,  below  the  mouth  of  the  Puerco. 

I  have,  therefore,  on  my  map  located  the  province  of  Tiguex  on  the 
Eio  Grande  below  the  Eio  Puerco,  at  the  foot  of  the  Socorro  Mountains, 
which  bounds  it  on  its  west ;  and  it  is  somewhat  confirmatory  of  this 
position  that  on  the  map  No.  5  of  "Thomas  Jeffreys'  Atlas,"  before  re 
ferred  to  as  excellent  authority,  I  find  Tlgua,  no  doubt  intended  for  the 
same  place,  or  province,  located  in  the  valley  of  the  Eio  Grande,  just 
where  I  have  located  Tiguex,  namely,  at  the  foot  of  the  Socorro  Moun 
tains. 


The  next  important  place  in  the  route  of  Coronado  from  Tiguex  was 
Cicuye*.  Castanedo  says :  "After  a  journey  of  five  days  from  Tiguex, 
Alvarado  (with  his  detachment  of  twenty  men)  arrived  at  Cicuye,  a 
very  well  fortified  village,  the  houses  of  which  are  four  stories  high."t 
Again,  "The  armyquitted  Tiguex  on  the  5th  of  May  (1531)  and  took  the 
route  to  Cicuye,  which  is  twenty-five  leagues  distant."!  Jaramillo  states 
the  direction  to  have  been  "  nprtheast."§  In  another  place  Castaneda 
remarks  that  "  Cicuye'  is  built  in  a  narrow  valley,  in  the  midst  of  moun 
tains  covered  with  pines.  It  is  traversed  by  a  small  stream,  in  which  we 
caught  some  excellent  trout.")  | 

Now,  all  this  points,  as  I  believe,  to  the  ruins  of  Pecos,  on  the  Eio 
Pecos,  as  the  site  of  Cicuye',  and  in  this  I  agree  with  Mr.  Squier  and 
Mr.  Kern.  These  ruins  are  in  a  northeast  direction  from  the  supposed 
position  of  Tiguex,  and  about  five  days'  journey  distant.  They  are 
also  situated  in  a  narrow  valley  in  the  midst  of  mountains  covered 
with  pines,  and  the  site  is  traversed  by  a  small  silvery  stream,  in  which 
may  be  caught  some  excellent  trout.  I  certainly  know  no  other  place 
that  in  so  many  respects  suits  the  conditions  of  the  problem ;  but  the 

*  Castaneda's  Relations,  Teruaux  Compans. 
t  Castaiieda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  71. 
t  Castaneda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  113. 
$  Jaramillo's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  371. 
II  Castaiieda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  179. 


28  CORONADO'S   MARCH. 

following  remark  by  Castaneda  has  perplexed  investigators  not  a  little. 
He  remarks,  that  "  when  the  army  quitted  Cicuye  to  go  to  Quivira  we 
entered  the  mountains,  which  it  was  necessary  to  cross  to  reach  the 
plains,  and  on  the  fourth  day  we  arrived  at  a  great  river,  very  deep, 
which  passes  also  near  Cicuye'.  It  is  for  this  reason  we  call  it  the  Rio 
de  Cicuye'.  Here  we  were  obliged  to  build  a  bridge,  which  employed  us 
four  days."* 

The  difficulty  has  been  to  reconcile  the  statement  that  Cicuye"  (Pecos) 
was  on  or  near  the  Eio  Cicuye',  and  yet  that  after  four  days'  travel,  after 
traversing  some  mountains  in  a  northeasterly  direction,  the  army  should 
again  cross  it  by  a  bridge. 

Now  all  this,  I  think,  can  be  reconciled  by  reference  to  the  accom 
panying  map,  on  which  will  be  found  laid  down  a  route,  the  only  one,  I 
believe,  existing  at  the  present  day  between  Pecos  and  Las  Vegas,  on 
the  Eio  Gallinas,  a  tributary  of  the  Bio  Pecos,  where  the  plains  com 
mence.!  The  general  direction  of  the  road  is  northeast.  It  traverses 
some  very  rough  mountains,  and  the  distance  between  the  two  places  is 
about  fifty  miles,  which  might  have  necessitated,  considering  the  rough 
ness  of  the  route,  a  journey  of  four  days,  as  the  conditions  require.  Be 
sides,  the  Gallinas  is  liable  to  be  flooded  from  the  melting  snows  of  the 
neighboring  sierras  in  the  month  of  May  and  fore-part  of  June ;  this 
naturally  would  make  necessary  at  such  times  a  bridge  to  cross  it. 
Emory,  speaking  about  Las  Vegas  and  its  vicinity,  says :  u  As  we  emerged 
from  the  hills  into  the  valley  of  the  Ve'gas,  our  eyes  were  greeted  for 
the  first  time  with  waving  corn.  The  stream  (the  Gallinas)  was/oorfcrf, 
and  the  little  drains  by  which  the  fields  were  irrigated  full  to  the  brim.rf 

My  idea  is,  then,  that  this  stream  being  a  tributary  of  the  Pecos  and 
larger  than  the  latter  at  Cicuye',  (Pecos,)  it  was,  in  all  probability, 
called  for  those  reasons  the  Eio  de  Cicuye,  though  the  place  by  this 
name  was  situated  distant  from  it  on  another  branch  of  the  same  river, 
where  the  ruins  of  the  Pecos  village  are  now  to  be  seen. 

I  will  also  state,  as  strongly  confirmatory  of  this  location  of  Cicuye, 
that  on  map  No.  5  of  the  "American  Atlas,  by  Thomas  Jeffreys,  pub 
lished  in  1775,"  twice  before  referred  to,  I  find  laid  down,  in  about  the 
present  locality  of  Pecos,  a  place  named  "  Sayaque,"  which  might  well 
answer  for  Cicuye'. 

But  where  was  Quivira?  "the  last"  (place,)  as  Castaueda  remarks, 
u  which  was  visited  by  Coronado."  Mr.  Squier,  on  his  map,  before  re 
ferred  to,  has  the  route  pursued  by  Coronado  laid  down  as  extending 
indefinitely  in  a  northeastwardly  direction,  from  Cicuye  (Pecos ;)  but 
still,  in  his  essay  before  referred  to,  says  "  there  is  no  doubt  that  Vas- 
quez  Coronado  penetrated,  in  1541,  to  the  region  of  Gran  Quivira,  vis 
ited  and  described  by  Gregg  ;"§  that  is  the  Quivira  which  on  modern 
maps  is  laid  down  in  latitude  about  34°  north,  and  longitude  106°  west 
from  Greenwich,  or  about  100  miles  directly  south  from  Santa  Fe.  Lieu 
tenant  Abert  and  Mr.  Kern  have  expressed  the  same  thing ;  the  latter 
locating  Coronado's  route,  not  in  a  northeast  direction  from  Cicuyd  and 
extending  about  six  hundred  miles,  as  required  by  the  statements  of  Cas- 
tafieda,  Coronado,  and  Jaramillo ;  but  in  a  direction  almost  di  redly  the 
reverse — at  first  eastwardly  and  then  westwardly,  so  as  to  make  him 
reach  a  place  called  Quivira  in  modern  times,  but  located  only  about 

*  Castnfioda's  Relations,  Ternanx  Compaus,  pp.  115, 116. 

t  This  is  tlu«  only  route  which  for  years  has  b»vii  taken  by  travelers  and  others  from 
Fort  Leavenworth  to  Santa  Fe\ 

t  Emory's  Report,  Ex.  Doc.  No.  7,  30th  Congress,  1st  session,  p.  26. 
$  American  Review  for  November,  1648,  p.  6. 


CORONADO'S   MARCH.  29 

one  hundred  miles  from  Cicuye  (Pecos,)  and  that  almost  iu  a  due  south 
direction. 

Mr.  Gallatin  says,  "Coronado  appears  to  have  proceeded  as  far  north 
as  near  the  40°  of  latitude,"  *  in  search  of  Quivira. 

Again,  quoting  from  him,  "  Quivira,  (referring  to  that  about  one  hun 
dred  miles  south  from  Santa  Fe,  in  latitude  34°  and  longitude  106°,)  about 
fourteen  miles  east  of  Abo,  was  not  visited  by  Lieutenant  Abert ;  but 
its  position  was  correctly  ascertained.  It  is  quite  probable  that  the 
place  now  known  by  that  name  was  the  true  Quivira  of  the  Indians  at 
the  time  of  Coronado's  expedition.  But  whether  deceived  by  a  treach 
erous  Indian  guide,  as  they  assert,  or  having  not  understood  what  the 
Indians  meant,  which  is  quite  probable,  the  Spaniards  gave  the  name 
of  Quivira  to  an  imaginary  country  situated  north  and  represented  as 
abounding  in  gold."  t 

Now,  it  is  something  singular  that,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  inves 
tigate,  there  is  no  such  place  as  Quivira  laid  clown  on  the  old  maps  in 
the  locality  where  modern  maps  show  it — namely,  in  latitude  34°,  lon 
gitude  106° ;  but  there  is  a  place  of  that  name  laid  down  on  these  maps 
in  about  latitude  40°,  as  high  as  Coronado  located  it.  I  am  therefore 
inclined  to  believe  that  at  the  time  of  Cpronado's  expedition  the  former 
Quivira  did  not  exist.  At  all  events,  it  is  scarcely  credible  that  such  a 
remarkable  city  as  Quivira  was  represented  to  be,  so  full  of  gold,  &c., 
situated  as  it  was,  only  about  fifty  miles  from  Tiguex,  the  headquarters  of 
Coronado's  army,  and  which  might  have  been  reached  in  two  days,  could 
have  been  kept  from  the  knowledge  and  observation  of  the  army  for 
about  a  year  and  a  half,  during  all  the  time  that  a  portion  of  it  was  sta 
tioned  at  that  place. 

Again,  Gregg,  (an  excellent  authority,)  speaking  of  the  ruins  of  Qui 
vira,  remarks:  "  By  some  persons  these  ruins  have  been  supposed  to  be 
the  remains  of  an  ancient  pueblo,  or  aboriginal  city.  That  is  not  proba 
ble,  however,  for  though  the  relics  of  aboriginal  temples  might  possibly 
be  mistaken  for  those  of  Catholic  churches,  yet  it  is  not  to  be  presumed 
that  the  Spanish  coat  of  arms  would  be  found  sculptured  and  painted 
on  their  facades,  as  is  the  case  in  more  than  one  instance."! 

No ;  I  am  of  opinion  that  Coronado  and  his  army  marched  just  as  Cas- 
taneda,  Jaramillo,  and  Coronado  have  reported ;  that  is,  generally  in  a 
northeast  direction,  over  extensive  plains,  through  countless  herds  of 
buffaloes  and  prairie-dog  villages,  and  at  length,  after  getting  in  a  man 
ner  lost,  and  finding,  as  the  chronicler  says,  they  had  gone  "  too  far 
toward  Florida,"§  that  is,  to  the  eastward,  and  had  traveled  from  Tiguex 
for  thirty-seven  days,  or  a  distance  of  between  700  and  800  miles,  their 
provisions  failing  them,  the  main  body  turned  back  to  Tiguex ;  and 
Coronado,  with  thirty-six  picked  men,  continued  his  explorations  north 
wardly  to  the  40°  of  latitude,  where  he  reached  a  province  which  the 
lodians  called  Quivira,  in  which  he  expected  to  find  a  city  containing 
remarkable  houses  and  stores  of  gold,  but  which  turned  out  to  be  only 
the  abode  of  very  wild  Indians,  who  lived  in  miserable  wigwams,  and 
knew  nothing  about  gold. 

*  Transactions  American  Ethnological  Society,  vol.  ii.  p.  64. 

tl'bid.,  p.  95. 

t  Gregg's  Commerce  of  the  Prairies,  2d  ed.,  p.  165. 

§  On  some  of  the  old  maps  Florida  embraces  all  the  country  west  of  the  Rio  Grande 
and  south  of  Canada.  See  "  Atlas  Historique,  par  Mr.  C  *  *  *  ;  Avec  des  dissertations 
sur  PHistoire  de  Chaque  6tat,  par  Mr.  Gnendeville,"  before  alluded  to,  published  in 
1732.  Again,  Hakluyt  remarks :  "  The  name  of  Florida  was  at  one  time  applied  to  all 
that  tract  of  territory  which  extends  from  Canada  to  the  Rio  del  Norte."  (See  his 
introduction  to  "  The  Discovery  and  Conquest  of  Peru  by  Don  Fernando  de  Soto,"  p.  10.) 


30  CORONADO'S   MARCH. 

Coronado's  description  of  the  region  is  as  follows:  "The  province  of 
Quivira  is  950  leagues  (3,230  miles)  from  Mexico.  The  place  I  have 
reached  is  the  40°  of  latitude.  The  earth  is  the  best  possible  for  all 
kinds  of  productions  of  Spain,  for  while  it  is  very  strong  and  black,  it 
is  very  well  watered  by  brooks,  springs,  and  rivers.  I  found  prunes 
like  those  of  Spain,  some  of  which  were  black,  also  some  excellent  grapes 
and  mulberries."* 

Jaramillo,  who  accompanied  Coronado  to  Quivira,  speaking  of  this 
region,  says :  "  This  country  (Quivira)  has  a  superb  appearance,  and 
such  that  I  have  not  seen  better  in  all  of  Spain,  neither  in  Italy  nor 
France,  nor  in  any  other  country  where  I  have  been  in  the  service  of 
your  Majesty.  It  is  not  a  country  of  mountains  ;  there  are  only  some 
hills,  some  plains,  and  some  streams  of  very  fine  water,  (des  ruis-seaux 
de  fort  belle  eau.)  It  satisfied  me  completely.  I  presume  that  it  is  very 
fertile  and  favorable  for  the  cultivation  of  all  kinds  of  fruits."t 

In  another  portion  of  his  Eelations  he  mentions  having  crossed  a 
large  river,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  "  Saint  Peter  and  Saint 
Paul,"  which  very  probably  was  the  Arkansas,  and  after  traveling  sev 
eral  days  farther  north,  they  came  to  the  province  of  Quivira,  where 
they  learned  that  there  was  a  still  larger  river  farther  on,  to  which  they 
gave  the  name  of  "  Teucarea/  and  which  I  believe  to  have  been  the 
Missouri.} 

Again,  Castafieda  says :  "  It  is  in  this  country  (that  of  Quivira)  that 
the  Espiritu  Sancto,  (Mississippi,)  which  Don  Fernando  de  Soto  discov 
ered  in  Florida,  takes  its  source.  *  *  *  *  The  course  of  this  river 
is  so  long,  and  it  receives  so  many  affluents,  that  it  is  of  prodigious 
length  to  where  it  debouches  into  the  sea,  and  its  fresh  waters  extend 
far  out  after  you  have  lost  sight  of  the  land."§ 

All  the  authors  who  have  written  on  this  subject  seem  to  have 
discredited  Coronado's  report  that  he  explored  northwardly  as  far  as 
the  40°  of  north  latitude  ;  but  not  only  do  the  reports  of  Castafieda  and 
Jaramillo  bear  him  out  in  his  statement,  but  the  peculiar  description  of 
the  country  as  given  by  them  all — namely,  that  it  was  excecdim/ly  rich ; 
its  soil  black ;  that  it  bore,  spontaneously,  grapes  and  prunes,  (wild 
plums  5)  was  watered  by  many  streams  of  pure  water,  &c.;  and  the  cir 
cumstance  of  this  kind  of  country  not  being  found  anywhere  in  the 
probable  direction  of  Coronado's  route,  except  across  the  Arkansas 
and  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Arkansas  Eiver ;  all  this,  together  with 
the  allusion  to  a  large  river,  the  "  Saint  Peter  and  Saint  Paul,"  (proba 
bly  the  Arkansas,)  which  they  crossed  before  reaching  Quivira,  in  lati- 

*  Following  the  orders  of  your  Majesty  (Don  Antonio  de  Mendoca,)  I  have  observed  tho 
best  possible  treatment  toward  the  natives  of  this  province,  and  of  all  others  that  I 
have  traversed.  They  have  nothing  to  complain  of  me  or  iny  people.  I  sojour.u-d 
twenty-five  days  in  the  province  of  Quivira,  as  much  to  thoroughly  explore  the  country 
as  to  see  if  I  could  not  find  some  further  occasion  to  serve  your  Majesty,  for  the  guides 
whom  I  brought  with  me  have  spoken  of  provinces  situated  still  farther  on.  That 
which  I  have  been  able  to  learn  is,  that  in  all  this  country  one  can  find  neither  gold 
nor  any  other  metal.  They  spoke  to  me  of  small  villages,  whoso  inhabitants  for  tho 
most  part  do  not  cultivate  the  soil.  They  have  huts  of  hides  and  of  willows,  and 
change  their  places  of  abode  with  the  vaches  (buffaloes.')  The  tale  they  told  rue  then 
(that  Quivira  was  a  city  of  extraordinary  buildings  and  full  of  gold)  was  false.  In 
inducing  me  to  part  with  all  my  army  to  come  to  this  country,  the  Indians  thought 
that  the  country  being  desert  and  without  water,  they  would  conduct  us  into  ] 
where  our  horses  and  ourselves  would  die  of  hunger;  that  is  what  the  guides  have 
confessed.  They  told  that  they  had  acted  by  the  advice  of  the  natives  of  these  coun 
tries.  (Coronado's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  pp.  360,  361.) 

t  Jaramillo's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  378. 

t  Jaramillo's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  pp.  375,  377. 

$  CastaSieda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  p.  195. 


CORONADO'S   MARCH.  31 

tude  40°  nortli ;  and  to  a  still  larger  river  further  on  (probably  the  Mis 
souri) — makes  it  exceedingly  probable  that  he  reached  the  fortieth  degree 
of  latitude,  or  what  is  now  the  boundary  between  the  States  of  Kansas 
and  Nebraska,  well  on  towards  the  Missouri  Eiver ;  and  in  this  region  I 
have  terminated  his  explorations  north  on  the  accompanying  map.* 

In  regard  to  the  return  route  of  the  army  of  Coronado,  which  he 
dispatched  to  Tignex  before  he  reached  Quivira,  it  is  expressly  men 
tioned  that  they  passed  by  some  salt  ponds,  and,  as  I  believe  they  are 
only  to  be  found  in  that  region  of  country  between  the  Canadian  and 
Arkansas  Eivers,  on  the  Little  Arkansas  Eiver,  a  tributary  of  the  latter, 
in  about  latitude  37°,  and  longitude  99°,  I  have  located  this  route  as 
passing  by  these  ponds,  with  some  probability  of  its  being  correct.t 

Another  point  of  the  return  route  of  the  army  was  where  it  struck 
the  Eio  Cicuye',  about  thirty  leagues  below  the  bridge,  where  it  had 
crossed  it  on  their  outward  inarch.! 

Besides  the  provinces  I  have  endeavored  to  locate  there  were  a  num 
ber,  as  I  have  already  stated,  visited  by  Coronado,  or  his  officers,  which 
were  situated  on  the  Eio  Tiguex,  (Eio  Grande,)  or  some  of  its  tribu 
taries,  as  follows :  Quirix,  containing  seven  villages ;  in  the  Snow  Mount 
ains,  seven  $  Ximena,  three ;  Ohea,  one ;  Hemes,  seven ;  Aguas  Calien- 
tes,  three ;  Yuque-yunque  of  the  mountain,  six ;  Valladolid  or  Braba, 
one  ;  Tutahaco,  eight. 

Quirix  was  unquestionably  San  Phelipe  de  Queres  of  the  present  day  ; 
Chea,  Silla;  Hemes,  Hemes ;  Aguas  Calientes,  the  ruins  ivhich  I  have 
seen  at  Ojos  Calientes,  twelve  miles  above  Heniez,  on  the  Eio  de  Hernez; 
and  Braba,  Taos.  The  situation  of  all  the  places  named  accord  so  well 
with  that  given  by  Castaneda  as  to  leave  but  little  doubt  that  they  are 
identical. 

In  addition,  in  relation  to  Braba,  Castaneda  states  that  it  was  the  last 
town  on  the  Eio  Tiguex,  north,  and  was  "  built  on  the  two  banks  of  a 
stream  which  was  crossed  by  bridges  built  of  nicely-squared  pine  tim 
ber.'7  Gregg,  speaking  of  Taos,  which  is  the  last  pueblo  on  the  Eio 
Grande  north  of  Santa  Fe,  says  :  "  There  still  exists  a  pueblo  of  Taos, 
composed  for  the  most  part  of  but  two  edifices  of  very  singular  con 
struction,  on  each  side  of  a  creek,  and  formerly  communicating  by  a 
bridge.  The  base  story,  near  400  feet  long  and  150  wide,  is  divided  into 
numerous  apartments,  upon  which  other  tiers  of  rooms  are  built,  one 
above  another,  forming  a  pyramidal  pile  of  fifty  or  sixty  feet  high,  and 
comprising  some  six  or  eight  stories."§  The  identity,  therefore,  of  the 
two  places  I  think  certain. 

All  the  vilages  along  the  Eio  de  Tiguex,  (Eio  Grande,)  explored  by 
Castaneda,  were  included  in  a  district  thirty  leagues  (102  miles)  broad 
and  one  hundred  and  thirty  (442  miles)  long. 

Castaneda,  speaking  of  the  origin  of  the  people  who  inhabited  these 
regions,  says:  "  This  circumstance,  the  customs  and  form  of  government 


*  This  hypothesis  is  also  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  the  Turk  who  guided  Coro 
nado  stated  that  he  was  "  a  native  of  the  country  on  the  side  of  Florida,"  that  is, 
toward  the  east  from  the  Rio  Tiguex,  (Rio  Grande,)  in  the  valley  of  which  he  was  at 
that  time ;  that  in  his  country  was  "  a  river  two  leagues  broad,"  &c.;  and  that  when 
he  reached  Quivira  he  told  the  Spaniards  "  that  his  country  was  still  beyond  that." 
(See  Castaneda's  Relations,  Ternaux  Compans,  pp.  72,  77,  131.) 

t  See  ante,  p.  40. 

t  Between  the  outward  and  return  route  the  Canadian  River  is  deeply  canoned  for 
fifty  miles,  which  doubtless  necessitated  the  army  on  its  return  either  to  cross  it  where 
it  did  when  going  to  Quivira,  or  at  least  fifty  miles  below  that  point ;  and  doing  .the 
latter,  it  naturally  struck  the  Pecos  proportionally  lower  down  from  the  bridge. 

$  Gregg's  Commerce  of  the  Prairies,  2d  ed.,  vol(.  ii,  p.  277. 


32  CORONADO'S   MARCH. 

of  these  nations,  which  are  so  entirely  different  from  those  of  all  the 
other  nations  we  have  found  up  to  the  present  time,  prove  that  they 
came  from  the  region  of  the  Great  India,  whose  coasts  touch  those  of 
this  country  on  the  west.  They  may  have  approached  by  following  the 
course  of  the  river  after  crossing  the  mountains,  and  may  havr  there 
fixed  themselves  in  the  locations  that  seemed  most  advantageous  to 
them.  As  they  multiplied  they  built  other  villages  along  the  hanks, 
until  the  stream  failed  them  by  plunging  into  the  earth.  When  it 
reappears  it  flows  toward  Florida.  It  is  said  that  there  are  other  villages 
on  the  banks  of  this  river,  but  we  did  not  visit  them,  preferring,  accord 
ing  to  the  Turk's  advice,  to  cross  the  mountains  to  its  source.  I  believe 
that  great  riches  would  be  found  in  the  country  whence  these  Indians 
came.  According  to  the  route  they  followed  they  must  have  come  from 
the  extremity  of  the  Eastern  India,  and  from  a  very  unknown  region, 
which,  according  to  the  conformation  of  the  coast,  would  be  situated  far 
in  the  interior  of  the  land  betwixt  China  and  Norway.  There  must,  in 
fact,  be  an  immense  distance  from  one  sea  to  the  other,  according  to  the 
form  of  the  coast  as  it  has  been  discovered  by  Captain  Villalobos,  who 
took  that  direction  in  seeking  for  China.  The  same  occurs  when  we 
follow  the  coast  of  Florida ;  it  always  approaches  Norway  up  to  the 
point  where  the  country  i  des  baecalaos,7  or  codfish,  is  obtained."* 

The  foregoing  reflections  seem  crude  to  us  who  are  better  informed 
with  regard  to  the  geography  of  the  earth's  surface ;  but  when  we  con 
sider  that  in  the  days  of  Castaueda  the  whole  of  that  portion  of  the 
continent  lying  east  of  the  Rio  Grande  was  called  Florida,  and  but  lit 
tle,  if  anything,  was  known  of  the  exact  relations  of  the  northern  part 
of  our  continent  with  the  other  portions  of  the  world,  they  do  not  appeal- 
irrelevant. 

In  conclusion,  I  think  it  proper  to  observe  that  the  "  Relations  "  of 
Coronado,  Castaneda,  Jarainillo,  and  Alarcon,  though  somewhat  vague  in 
style,  and  therefore  requiring  a  great  deal  of  study  to  comprehend  their 
meaning  with  certainty,  are  nevertheless  written  in  a  straight-forward, 
natural  manner,  and  are  manifestly  entitled  to  credence  whenever  they 
describe  what  came  under  their  observation.  When,  however,  they 
describe  the  tales  of  others  their  narratives  partake  the  character  of 
the  marvelous ;  but,  even  then,  if  we  carry  along  with  us  the  idea  that 
they  do  not  mean  to  deceive,  but  only  to  give  expression  to  what  might 
possibly  be  true — but  which  they  do  not  assert  to  be  so — their  narratives 
must  be  regarded  not  only  as  truthful,  but  as  meritorious,  and  emi 
nently  deserving  of  careful  study  and  reflection. 

*  Castaiieda's  Relations,  Teruaux  Coinpaus,  pp.  183,  184. 


